Manure contribution to rural livelihoods at farm and landscape levels: a systemic approach in semi-arid Central Tunisia

Manure valorization through on-farm use or market transactions is an ancient and widespread practice in the mixed crop-livestock systems of the semi-arid areas of North Africa. While research has long focused on the manure contribution to soil fertility at the plot level, little has been done concerning livelihood conditions. The present paper aims to assess the contribution of manure use and exchange on the livelihoods of rural communities using an original dataset collected in 2021 among 150 farmers in Central Tunisia. This analysis is carried out within the analytical agroecology framework combined with factor analysis methods. Results showed that manure use and valorization differ along the watershed, from a socioeconomic perspective in small farms operating under rainfed tree-pastoral systems, to an environmental and agronomic perspective in the mixed rainfed-irrigated systems downstream. Manure flow analysis confirmed that on-farm manure balance is positively correlated to economic wealth. However, the manure fluxes questioned the environmental sustainability of the vulnerable zones. Its use and management could significantly impact livelihood discrepancies in the future, with the increasing of demand and use of manure in more favorable zones such as irrigated lands at the detriment of the rainfed zones.