The Forage Plantation Program between Desertification Mitigation and Livestock Feeding: An Economic Analysis
Fathi Abdellatif Belhouadjeb,
Abdallah Boumakhleb,
Abdelhalim Toaiba,
Abdelghafour Doghbage,
Benbader Habib,
Hassen Boukerker,
Enrique Murgueitio,
Walid Soufan,
Mohamad Isam Almadani,
Belkacem Daoudi,
Amar Khadoumi
Affiliations
Fathi Abdellatif Belhouadjeb
Centre de Recherche en Agropastoralisme (CRAPAST), Djelfa 17000, Algeria
Abdallah Boumakhleb
High Commissariat for the Development of the Steppe (HCDS), Djelfa 17000, Algeria
Abdelhalim Toaiba
National Agency for Conservation of Nature (ANN), Laghouat 30000, Algeria
Abdelghafour Doghbage
Centre de Recherche en Agropastoralisme (CRAPAST), Djelfa 17000, Algeria
Benbader Habib
Centre de Recherche en Agropastoralisme (CRAPAST), Djelfa 17000, Algeria
Hassen Boukerker
Scientific and Technical Research Center on Arid Regions (CRSTRA), Biskra 07000, Algeria
Enrique Murgueitio
Centro para la Investigación en Sistemas Sostenibles de Producción Agropecuaria (CIPAV), Carrera 25 No. 6-62, Cali 760043, Colombia
Walid Soufan
Plant Production Department, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Mohamad Isam Almadani
Thünen Institute of Farm Economics, Bundesallee 63, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany
Belkacem Daoudi
Laboratoire de Biodiversité Végétale, Conservation et Valorisation, Université Djillali Liabès, BP89, Haï Larbi Ben M’Hidi, Sidi Bel Abbés 22000, Algeria
Amar Khadoumi
Laboratoire, Exploration et Valorisation des Ecosystèmes Steppiques (EVES), Faculté des Sciences de la Nature et de la Vie, Université Ziane Achour, Djelfa 17000, Algeria
To combat desertification and land degradation in arid and semi-arid zones, the government has adopted an approach of rehabilitation of pasturelands through forage plantations. This program was launched at the beginning of the 1990s and, to date, there has been no global or national study on the sustainability of the program, particularly its economic profitability. Our work’s principal objective was to perform an economic analysis of the forage plantation program across the different periods since the creation of the program until the year 2020, focusing on the economic evaluation parameters of the projects, such as mean annual net income, net present value, annuity of the net present value, profitability index and payback period, based on the data collected from the official institutions. The results showed that the forage plantation program significantly contributes to sustainable development in steppe areas.
