M. Al-Masri
Agricultural Research Centre, Tripoli, Libya
Introduction
Libya lies along the southern coast of the Mediterranean, in North Africa, between latitudes 18° and 33° north and 9° and 25° east. It has a total area of about 1,759,540 km2, of which more than 90% is desert, and a population of about 4.5 million. The climate is typical of the Mediterranean, with erratic rainfall. Agriculture is limited to a narrow strip along the Mediterranean coast, mountain areas and scattered oases in the desert. It is mainly crop production, which contributes 5% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and employs about 13% of the total labour force. There are about 2.2 million hectares of arable land, of which 1.3 million are in rangeland, 355,000 in permanent pasture and 320,000 in forest and woodland. Production is mainly in the private sector, with some government projects, mainly irrigated cereal and forage production in the desert. Animal production contributes approximately 30% of total agricultural production, providing meat, milk, dairy products and eggs.
Agro-ecological zones
There are four agro-ecological zones in Libya.
Coastal zone
The coastal zone occupies a narrow strip between 5 and 25 km wide along the sea, extending in the west to more than 100 km in the form of an arc, to form the Jeffara Plain. Average annual rainfall is between 200 and 250 mm. Supplementary irrigation, using underground water, is common, but its expansion is restricted because the water table is lowering by 1 to 5 m/yr, which is causing infiltration of seawater. The soils in the western part are neutral to slightly alkaline sandy or sandy loams, very low in organic matter, while soils in the eastern part are heavier, mainly sandy or clay loams.
Mountain regions
The two mountain areas, the Green Mountain in the east and the Western Mountain, lie immediately south of the coastal area. In the Western Mountain, average annual rainfall is between 200 and 300 mm, and soils are much lighter and more variable than those of the Green Mountain.
Semi-desert zone
The semi-desert zone lies immediately south of and parallel to the mountain regions, with average annual rainfall between 50 and 150 mm. Most of the large flock owners use the rangeland to graze sheep, goats and camels. Seventeen government projects were established in the area to reclaim about 800,000 ha of land and plant them with fodder shrubs (Atriplex) and annual medics. Nomads have traditionally grown crops in the wadi beds in this zone.
Desert zone
The desert zone consists of sand dunes and barren hills, with almost no rainfall. Agriculture has traditionally been confined to a few scattered oases. Recently, due to the discovery of vast quantities of underground water in parts of the desert, some government-sponsored projects have been established to reclaim the land and settle nomadic people. About 100,000 ha are now under permanent irrigation.
Crops
The main farming systems in the rainfed areas are as follows:
rotation of cereal, mainly barley, with fallow in the coastal plains, marginal lands and wadi beds, in rangeland areas with less than 250 mm rainfall
continuous cropping in areas with more reliable rainfall, mainly in the Green Mountain
olive plantations in the coastal area, especially in the west, with barley and vegetables grown between the olives if irrigation is available
fruit farms in about 2% of the total rainfed area, with rainfall above 350 mm. Irrigation is used for fruit trees (mainly citrus in areas with rainfall above 350 mm) and vegetables in the western coastal area, with supplementary irrigation for cereal and forage crops.
The main crops are
cereals: wheat, barley, maize and millet
pulses: dry beans, broad bean, pea, chickpea and groundnut
vegetables: potato, tomato, cabbage, cauliflower, pumpkin, squash, cucumber, eggplant, onion, garlic, green pea, carrot, watermelon, cantaloupe and muskmelon
Sheep, goats and camels are the main livestock species. In 1992, there were 5.60 million sheep, 1.25 million goats, 155,000 camels and 135,000 cattle. In the last 30 years, the number of sheep has increased by 30%, goats numbers have remained almost constant, cattle have increased by 30% and camels have decreased by 40%. Calculations in feed units of the balance between total feed requirements of ruminants and estimates of the total production of feed from rangeland, straw, forage crops and concentrate feeds indicate a major deficit in feed supplies.
Animal production systems in the agro-ecological zones
The coastal zone
The coastal zone has 29 major dairy cattle projects to supply the cities of Tripoli, Khomis, Zawia, Misurata, Sirt and Benghazi. There are also four large projects for dairy cattle and poultry meat production in Hira and Twisha south of Tripoli, Tawerga, and Goth Sultan in Benghazi region. The total production of poultry meat from these centres is 23 million birds per year. There are also small-scale flock owners with sheep and goats, and private milk and poultry meat producers in this area.
The mountain regions
Large-scale and small-scale flock owners use both the Green Mountain and the Western Mountain areas for grazing sheep and goats. There are also two dairy cattle stations in each area.
The semi-desert zone
The semi-desert rangeland is grazed by large flocks of sheep, goats and camels.
The desert zone
In Fezzan and Kufra regions there are four stations for dairy cattle and poultry production. Small flocks of goats and sheep graze wheat and barley stubbles on government projects and private farms.
Constraints to development of livestock production
The supply of animal products does not meet demand, for several reasons:
climate
- high temperatures and humidity result in reduced feed intake, low milk and meat yields, and reproductive problems
limited feed resources
- limited rainfall affects the growth of natural pasture and the availability of forage and roughage
- in spite of improvements in feed manufacturing, the supply of concentrates is directly affected by the availability of raw materials imported from abroad
decreases in government finance for projects in recent years
shortage of equipment and farm machinery
poor organisation of collection, storage, marketing and distribution of livestock products
lack of collaboration between farmers associations
lack of technical administration
insufficient planning of research in animal production, coupled with limited finance for equipment and machinery; little participation in international meetings and conferences; and very limited access to international periodicals, published research and the Internet.
Researchable issues and research priorities
The need is great for both short- and long-term research on nutrition, management, breeding, disease and health in sheep, goats and camels, with the following priorities:
estimation of daily feed consumption and stocking rates on rangeland pastures for Libyan Barbary sheep and goats
improvement of reproductive efficiency and reproduction
development of economic, balanced rations from available feed resources
examination of alternatives to concentrate rations, including ammonia-treated straw, urea-treated barley grain and straw, feed blocks of agro-industrial by-products and urea
improved utilisation of grazed wheat and barley stubble.
In rangeland and pasture research the priorities are
the classification of plants that are palatable to animals
improvement of rangelands, including developing rotations to avoid overgrazing and using fencing to protect the pasture
the cultivation of shrubs (Atriplex), medic and spineless cactus.
National research capacity and existing international programmes
Research on livestock production is carried out in the Agricultural Research Centre, animal production departments in the faculties of agriculture in Tripoli, Sebha and Beida, and the Livestock Production Research Centre. There is also a Camel Research Centre and a School of Veterinary Medicine. The Agricultural Research Centre collaborates with the Mashreq/Maghreb Project, which organises field days, training programmes and the distribution of extension leaflets.
