Rangeland management
The Office of Livestock Breeding and Pastures (OEP) practices rangelands enclosures and pastoral improvement by the plantation of fodder shrubs at private lands (Ouled Belgacem & Genin, 2003). An enclosure of 3 to 5 years allows the vegetation to regenerate naturally without any intervention. The pastoral improvements are carried out with plantation of fodder shrubs: Atriplex halimus, Atriplex nummularia, Rhanterium suaveolens, Periploca laevigata, etc. In the Jeffara region, the afforestation programs, which started in the colonial period along the Tripolitan road in particular, have been continued during the sixties by the Forest services aiming at protecting the agglomerations and infrastructures from sand encroachment. These plantations have been installed on state owned lands or collective rangelands subject to forestry regime. The OEP duplicated the same practices private rangelands by installing enclosures or fodder shrubs plantations in exchange of providing the owners with subsidies for three year period depending on the success of the operation (Mekrazi, 2004). In the study area, almost 25 sites have been identified where the Forest services or the OEP have intervened.
