The Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region is characterized by a wide variability in rainfall and temperature. In these areas, evapotranspiration largely exceeds the amount of rainfall, leading to droughts with low forage production and water availability. The concurrent increase in human population with the growing demand for meat has led to increased grazing pressures on rangelands and the exhaustion of their potential productivity.
The Badia in Jordan constitutes the largest part of the country. It encompasses approximately 72 thousand square kilometers, corresponding to 81 % of the total area of the country. Increased grazing pressure and cultivation of traditional and fragile grazing lands has led to severe degradation of the Badia rangelands.
Since the main limiting factors to growth of plants in the Badia are low precipitation, and poor soil quality, the little precipitation water can be collected by establishing micro catchments on the rangelands. The Vallerani System is an intervention strategy for soil regeneration that integrates technology, traditional techniques and the application of good cultural practices adapted to the local reality, to restore big surfaces of degraded arid and semi-arid rangelands. Its application allows pasture improvement, reforestation and the establishment of agro-forestry sites, thus also enhancing the socio-economic development of the local communities affected.
This practice explains the Vallerani System and highlights its benefits and limitations. The practical implementation of the system is described on the basis of an example of the Badia rangeland rehabilitation project, implemented by ICARDA within the first decade of the new millenium.