Introduction

Until the various projects began operating in the early 1970s the agencies and institutions had been discussing an Australian system that had not been tried on farms in the region. In the decade to 1980 a great deal of experience was gained about the system on local farms and by 1980 various models of introduction and adoption were available on which to build. The problems of adoption were remarkably similar in each country – poor regeneration of the pastures after the cereal phase and difficulties in understanding the grazing management required to exploit the feed available. Using this experience and the resources available to them the agencies and institutions should have had a reasonable chance of leading the way to a vast improvement in dryland farming in the region. How did they cope?

New projects

The Libyan projects were convincing proof that a medic pasture could be managed by farmers in the region to provide a stable and productive alternative to a bare fallow and that expert farmers were an effective means of transferring the operational know-how of the system to other farmers. The Libyan projects also demonstrated how, if farmers were given appropriate farm implements, the tillage problems were rapidly overcome. After 1980 other governments in the region wanted the rotation adopted by their farmers – not simply demonstrated behind the fences of the project site or research farm.