West Bekaa rangelands are heavily grazed, all year round except in heavy snow months, during winter. In such areas where pastures are of low productivity, herds are supplemented with large amounts of feeds such as barley grain, cereal and legume straw, green barley, crop by-products and planted forages. Consequently, improving the productivity of rangelands would contribute to reducing feed supplementation and feed cost. Moreover, improving rangelands productivity will also increase their carrying capacity.
On October 25, 2021, and within efforts to restore and sustainably manage the degraded mountain pasture of Saghbine in West Bekaa, SPNL in collaboration with the Environment and Sustainable Development Unit – ESDU at AUB and Saghbine municipality, installed five enclosures (2*2m), covering a total surface area of 200 square meter, in a demo-plot at an altitude of 1,300 meters above sea level. A variety of native forage species seeds were sown in the enclosures irrigated, protected, and maintained until they grow. When plants grow and shed seeds, the seeds will be collected and used to rehabilitate the pasture gradually.
The activity will be followed with a rotational grazing plan that will be set jointly with the municipality and shepherds, in order to ensure the sustainable management of the pasture.
The project “Strengthening the ecological and socio-economic resilience of West Bekaa and Mount Lebanon landscapes through sustaining their cultural practices”, is funded by MAVA Foundation, under the M6 “Cultural Landscapes” programme.
By Jamal Hamzeh, Project Manager
