Resource information
This sectoral document aims to intervene, at national level, on the deterioration of pastoral lands, recovering those already deteriorated, through an action of sustainable development and management of the Ministry of Agriculture. This Strategy uses an integrated and participatory approach, with a twin-track view to the short and long term effects on the Saudi economy, to be applied in a time period of 20 years, up to 2033. This Strategy is strictly connected to the Strategy of Sustainable Agricultural Development up to 2030.The Vision of rangelands of this Strategy is: “Pastures with a variety of sustainable environmental systems that contribute to the achievement of food security and economic, social and environmental benefits”. All this means “Sustainable management and development of rangelands so that they can contribute to the quantitative and qualitative improvement of the vegetation cover, together with providing better living conditions for the communities that rely on pastoral resources, protecting water resources and biodiversity and combating desertification. The aforementioned Vision and Message can be summarized in four strategic objectives: 1) stop the land deterioration and desertification; 2) sustainable management and development of pastoral resources, combat desertification, biodiversity protection; 3) institutional, human and research development; and 4) better living conditions for the communities that rely on rangelands.Sustainable management and development d pastoral resources. This goal aims to improve the quantity and quality of production and, consequently, to increase the animal resources and the standard of living of small farmers. The program is also provided for the creation of reserves pastoral. Sustainability is considered to be the factor that makes the whole strategy integrated: pasture improvement leads to increased vegetation cover that leads to increased production and an improvement in living conditions of the farmers, environment conditions and biodiversity, reducing the amount of sand in the soil with positive effects on the phenomenon of desertification and sandstorms. The objective includes: creation of centers for the production of plant seeds suitable for grazing and reduction of plants that require a lot of water; soil preparation; and improvement of the vegetation cover to reduce rainwater leaks.The Ministry in charge should have an effective role in supporting the activities of development and improvement of pastures: encouraging harmonization and collaboration between all parties involved at the national level; strengthening the relationship between farmers and rangeland through greater participation in decisions of creation and management of pastures ensuring to them an exclusive exploitation of these areas; increasing the role of professional associations in the management and development of the sector; and creating veterinary units in the area and providing free veterinary services for farmers.Combat desertification aims to organize the pastoral system, relying on two main points: stopping of human activities that have caused the deterioration of pastoral habitats and direct technical assistance for the recovery of damaged areas and improve pastures such as creating at the Ministry of Agriculture a control apparatus of areas dedicated to pasture, improving the state of the vegetative cover to reduce the dispersion of rainwater and conservation of groundwater and promoting activities aimed at inventory and classification, conservation and propagation germplasm pastoral plants.
