Integrated Crop-Livestock System Case Study: Prospectus for Jordan’s Climate Change Adaptation

Abstract

The integrated crop-livestock system (ICLS) is a multifaceted farming system in which various agricultural practices are combined for sustainable management of available natural resources (i.e., plant, soil, water), reducing the impact of climate change to improve soil properties, crop productivity, animal sector development and farmers’ profit in an integrated way. Climate change poses considerable challenges for development, food security and poverty alleviation, particularly in Jordan. The chapter reviews the agricultural practices package adopted by farmers to enhance soil fertility, water use efficiency, resiliency to climate changes and putting more marginal lands and water resources into use in Jordan. These milestones were achieved through provision of distinct integrated plant production packages and distributing them to more marginalized farmers with poor economic conditions. In the livestock sector of Jordan, sustainable production and development of the forage sector is crucial for upscaling of quests with good nutritive value. Several factors were responsible for poor livestock productivity and include low-yield forage genotypes with low quality under marginal environments. To save the freshwater resources, reuse of nonconventional water (NCW), such as treated wastewater (TWW), low-quality saline water and rain harvesting, were vital alternate resources for the agriculture and forestry sectors in Jordan. The ICLS has been adopted in several countries but this concept still has not been adopted in the North African marginal environment. The farmers there are particularly vulnerable to climate change perturbations that include salinity and drought. This challenge requires adaptation of drought- and salt-tolerant genotypes of various forage crops with a high nutritive value. Among them, several forage crops (e.g., sorghum, Pearl millet and triticale) have been adopted by local farming communities in saline and marginal environments of Jordan where livelihood depends on agriculture. It has been concluded that farmers should adopt salt-tolerant forage crops and use NCW and marginal lands to elevate the agricultural and livestock sectors in the region, which will significantly support the local economy, food security and profit of the farmers.