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Sustainability of agro-pastoralist systems undergoing global changes as reflected by farmers' perception and value chain analysis: a Lebanese case-study

Chedid M.. 2019. Paris : AgroParisTech, 199 p.. Thèse de doctorat -- Sciences agronomiques.

Global change is a complex process encompassing environmental, climatic, social, economic, cultural and political changes. It has always affected agro-pastoral systems worldwide and compromised their sustainability resulting in tremendous changes of the pastoral systems including a decline in rangeland resources and the number of herds, sedentarism trends, diversification of livelihoods and even abandon of farming activities.Based on the hypothesis that agro-pastoralists in contrasted areas of the world face similar challenges and share same concerns but their adaptive strategies are affected by their local context which either enhances or weakens their sustainability, this research project aims at assessing the sustainability of agro-pastoral systems in Lebanon which are undergoing global forces of changes.First, the challenges affecting the sustainability of agro-pastoral systems in Lebanon have been identified through a review of the literature on pasture and land use in Lebanon. Six main challenges have been identified: i) Lack of policies and laws related to pastoralism and land tenure; ii) Urbanization and rural migration; iii) Encroachment by agriculture; iv) Deforestation and overgrazing; v) Lack of technical skills and data for range management; and vi) Climate variability.Second, the perception of change of small ruminant farmers in the West Bekaa of Lebanon has been assessed and their adaptation strategies identified. The constraints perceived by the farmers varied based on the production system they belonged to and were mainly related to pasture access and quality, market and political uncertainties, climate variability, on-farm socio-economic conditions and animal health. In the absence of government support, farmers from all systems developed short-term adaptive strategies involving more time spent on pastures, more feed supplementation and a decrease in herd size. Moreover, herd movement was limited to the pastures around the villages hence evincing t

Mots-clés : système agropastoral; changement climatique; agriculture durable; durabilité; chaîne de valeur; liban

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