Traditional farmers’ knowledge in small ruminant management using wild relatives plants in Zoghmar

Abstract

Health problems are often given less priority and consequently the economic repercussions of such problems are difficult to evaluate. For small ruminants, treatments against gastro-intestinal parasites are usually used preventively and present extra costs for livestock owners under low input production systems. Pharmaceutics products are not easily accessible to herders which are constraint to rely on local knowledge to prevent and cure some of the diseases. Zoghmar flora is rich in species with medicinal and aromatic values (table 5). Some are already used by the community for its improving human health and some are used for improving the health of the livestock. Understanding how these plants influence sheep health and production can lead to better more sustainable uses of the rangelands. There is actually a need for documenting this local knowledge towards efficient conservation and rational use of these species under rangeland production conditions.