Determining Strategic Priorities for Establishing Rural Livestock Farming Units to Empower Rangeland Users

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Agricultural, Water and Environment Governance, Faculty of Governance, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

2 Department of Natural Resources Policy, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran.

Abstract

In semi-arid regions, rangelands form the foundation of rural livelihoods but face increasing challenges such as climate change, overgrazing, and economic fluctuations that threaten ecosystem sustainability and household incomes. This study aims to determine strategic priorities for establishing rural livestock units to empower rangeland beneficiaries. The geographical scope includes four selected customary grazing districts in Maneh and Samalqan County, North Khorasan Province. Two sets of questionnaires were used: the first targeted local herders (130 individuals selected through convenience sampling), and the second targeted county-level livestock experts and elites (20 individuals selected through a census approach). To develop sustainability strategies for rangeland livestock grazing, a SWOT analysis was first conducted, followed by the formulation of strategies related to the identified business activity. In the next stage, prioritization of the extracted strategies was performed using the Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM). The findings indicate a conservative position for livestock farming (lamb fattening), with an IFE score of 2.41 (dominance of strengths such as short-term return on investment) and an EFE score of 2.68 (superiority of opportunities such as forage quality over price-related threats) in the IE matrix. In the QSPM, the top strategies include improving breeding management (enhancing herders’ scientific awareness), establishing support networks through aggregation and resource-sharing with other herders, ensuring forage supply and livestock sales through contract farming support, and implementing climate-adapted breed improvement (producing fattening lambs with better weight gain and higher twinning rates). Based on the results, it is recommended to adopt climate-adapted breed improvement and integrated farming models (such as Atriplex cultivation) to reduce rangeland dependency by 40%, alongside structured training programs and the establishment of local cooperatives to empower herders.

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