Plan needed for pasture management to maintain sustainability, diversity

Plan needed for pasture management to maintain sustainability, diversity

KUWAIT: Kuwait needs a comprehensive plan for pasture management and allocating specific areas for grazing, a representative from the country’s Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources said Monday.The plan is essential to rehabilitate the environment in a sustainable manner and help increase the botanical diversity of fungal flora, said environment management expert in the resilient agricultural livelihoods program Dr Munir Al-Wahaishi.

The recommendation is part of several released by the authority following a program it ran in collaboration with the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA). The center’s goals are to address the challenges facing the world’s non-tropical dry areas: rising temperatures, critical water scarcity, diminishing natural resources and an insecure food and nutritional future under often unstable social conditions. Their work closely aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The ICARDA-agriculture authority program aims at qualifying and assisting the national cadres in the agriculture authority to manage pastures in the agricultural Wafra region. It also aims to spread awareness among livestock owners regarding environment-friendly practices and adherence to laws that safeguard pastures in order to avoid penalties specified by the authority against violators.

The center has been working with Kuwait since at least 2007, when