Subsidies for Dryland Cropping

Governments of several countries with important arid or semi-arid rangelands have heavily subsidised dryland cropping of cereals, either in an attempt to achieve self-sufficiency in cereal production (for example several countries in the Maghreb and Mashreq) or for export (e.g. Sudan in the 1970s). In both cases, while subsidies were originally intended for use in relatively high-potential areas, it has been very difficult to prevent their application in more marginal areas.

Particularly in combination with inappropriate land tenure policies, subsidies on cereal production have:

- encouraged cultivation of lands that are marginal in terms of cropping, but key dry-season resources for livestock owners, causing environmental degradation directly (through mono-cropping and inappropriate tillage) and indirectly (through forcing livestock into still more marginal areas),
- allowed year-round build-up of herds in areas where they have access to cheap grain as feed.

Research/Appraisal Methods

The question of the wisdom of subsidising domestic grain production for import substitution or for export needs to be examined through conventional macro-economic or sectoral analysis, combined with an understanding of the interdependence of various ecological zones for mobile livestock production, and an environmental economic analysis of the costs of short-term land degradation. Stakeholder analysis may be useful to understand the interests favouring the maintenance of particular policies and particular interpretations of them.

Options

Remove subsidies on dryland cropping, except under highly specific conditions.

Key References

Oram, P. 1998. The Influence of Government Policies on Livestock production and the Environment in West Asia and North Africa (WANA) in A.J.Nell (ed) Livestock and the Environment: International Conference, IAC, Wageningen.

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