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Friday, July 30, 2010

Conservation through the Market

Based in the Wuchale & Jidda area.

Just North of Addis Ababa is an area compromised of two Woredas known as the Wuchale and Jidda Woredas in the Oromia Region. A Woreda is an administrative area which oversees a collection of small districts, or 'Kebeles'.
It lies in the Ethiopian Highlands where it is subject to the intense rainy season during July and August. During this time, it is estimated that up to 80% of the land is waterlogged, together with frosts, infertility of the vertisol soils and pests, creating enormous problems for the people trying to farm there.
Gradually, the surrounding hills have been stripped bare of its indigenous forest, to the extent that the local people must now rely largely on burning manure for fuel. This has consequences of its own, however, as it means that the dung is not used to fertilise the fields. Conservation through the Market: a new approach to natural resource management in Oromia Region (Wuchale-Jidda). 

During the rainy season, water-logged ground in parts of the Jidda and Wuchale Woredas, making crop production difficult

Introducing the Problems:

The main problems to be tackled in the Wachale-Jidda area can be summarised as follows:

• high levels of food insecurity and impoverishment.
• a crop farming system that is vulnerable to widespread waterlogging, frosts, hailstorms,
• uncertain secondary (belg) rains,
• inadequate arable land holdings,
• inaccessibility,
• The area's poverty is confirmed by social factors, with high infant mortality, high illiteracy rates and with women especially disadvantaged.

Aim, Objectives and History:

The objectives are to establish better community management of natural resources as part of a balanced development process which addresses economic, social and environmental needs.
The project promotes:

• market improvements that increase family income and reduce poverty.
• help rural communities move from subsistence cropping and exploitative land use to a better balanced, livestock-based system incorporating ‘cut-and-carry’
• soil restoration through rotation with fodder and forage crops,
• fuelwood plantation
• water conservation.

This requires collective management by farmers especially of milk product processing, transportation and marketing to the nearby Addis Ababa market. Funding was obtained for a three-year programme from January 2006; the needs to recruit staff and secure local agreements meant that operations got under way in July 2006.  

Wuchale-Jidda project progress from July 2006 to March 2008

Consultations:

Local Consultations

During this period the project has seen a consolidation of stakeholders with a clearer definition of their roles and responsibilities. Considerable work has been put into consultation with communities and kebele administrations. The communities in the five target kebeles (population 18,976 of whom 11,485 are female) have chosen the prime beneficiaries who are organised into 15 groups, each with 20-25 members, mostly women. Women hold many leadership roles, with the male members involved in accounting and secretarial tasks because women’s literacy levels are low. There are now 322 group members in total, of whom 275 are women. The project has facilitated training for all the members in: participatory planning and management, natural resources management including biodiversity conservation and sustainable organic farming, livestock management and horticultural production techniques. Workshops on livestock and forage were attended by 228 group members. 220 people (185 female) participated in primary health care, HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases and personal hygiene training. Training in financial and accounting practices was conducted for 75 members while 180 benefited from experience-sharing visits within and between groups.  

Crop and Livestock Production

Poorly managed grazing land and low quality feed are key challenges. The project has been working to improve crop and livestock production practices through:

Working on Oat stacks by the threshing floor

• introduction of improved varieties of forage crops and modern feed practices with lucerne seedlings distributed for planting at homesteads alongside other seasonal and perennial crops.
• technical training of 102 group members resulting in 52 members preparing hay and sowing leguminous forage during the short rains. 42 members have closed fields for grass production. The project has seen significant improvements in hay-making practices, harvest times and attention given to moisture content.
• two members from each of the 15 groups trained as paravets. This has enabled paravets to identify disease symptoms and take immediate action to treat minor cases. These trainee paravets have been networked to the woreda clinics and are able to report cases on a regular monthly basis.
• 15 heifers from local sources purchased by the project and gifted to 15 female group members on the principle of passing on the gift (POG). Training has been provided to the beneficiaries, and supplementary concentrate feed has been supplied on a credit basis to the groups as part of revolving funds.
• support to the establishment of a bull scheme through the supply of four bulls of Holstein Friesian breed to volunteer group members. The project has facilitated the artificial insemination service by identifying six sites to construct crushes for the delivery of AI and veterinary care.
• finalisation of a feasibility study on the viability and location of milk coolers.
• 150 local breed sheep purchased and provided to 75 members on the POG principle.  Over 75% survived and became productive. Among the ewes, 91 have already given birth to 112 offspring and the rest are pregnant.
• 300 chickens distributed to 140 selected beneficiaries.
• an uptake in organic composting and agricultural production. 83 group members prepared 104 m3 of compost applied on vegetables and field crops. Most have reported significant yield increases as a result.
• training in water management and irrigation techniques for 48 irrigation water users as well as 8kgs of vegetable seeds and 87 hand tools provided. Farmers have been able both to diversify and to intensify crop production as their water management techniques have improved. The potential for further micro-irrigation schemes has been assessed.
• procurement and distribution of 200 apple seedlings to 45 group members together with relevant training. A further 56 group members have visited these farmers for experience sharing. To date there is a 90% survival rate for the seedlings.

Read local success stories

The project has promoted land use planning by giving communities space to debate and discuss causes and effects of degradation, the loss of soil fertility and possible mitigating actions; 98 group members participated. Farmers have implemented conservation activities including construction of field terraces on 2.8km of land and 3.5km of unploughed strips of land left across the slope to retain soil and water. Farmers are encouraged to cover the terrace edges with grass and leguminous plants for stability and as a source of livestock feed.  

Training:

Training young people about their environment

SUNARMA attaches specific attention to raising environmental awareness among young people and involving youth in the programme. To this end 142 students and 70 members have established environmental protection clubs in three primary schools. The clubs have produced 18,400 eucalyptus seedlings from three nurseries. Each club has grown vegetables for sale and used the income to support club activities. The project provided seeds and tools.  

Through training, technical support, tools and seeds, the project has promoted decentralised nursery management, mobilising local people to have their own nursery sites and take ownership of the process of regenerating vegetation cover. 18 nursery sites and 45 individually managed nurseries have been established involving 202 farmers. More than 155,000 seedlings of various tree species have been raised and nurseries have been used to raise vegetable seedlings. In order to promote on-farm and backyard tree planting, 21,950 tree and shrub seedlings of different species have been planted by 280 members.  

Progress:

Ewes and rams distributed on the passing-on-the-gift principle 

Birr 53,900 (£3,000) seed capital has been shared among the groups to be used as revolving funds for small enterprises. Credit loans have been extended to 102 group members, with each beneficiary gaining an average of birr 484 (£27) profit from the loan. On average each group is saving 450 birr (£25)/month and has amassed savings of birr 6,200 (£346). 145 female group members received fuel saving stoves. A forum for dialogue on gender, HIV/AIDS and harmful traditional practices involving 299 community members was conducted during the activity period and orientation on pit-latrine and disposal pit construction, personal sanitation and use of clean water was given to 76 members. Representatives of ‘Shape Africa’, a medical practice based in Shropshire, UK, visited in 2007 and have committed themselves to fundraising to help resource a health post in Jidda. 

Sustainability:

The first 18 months’ experience of these activities was analysed by a mid-term review co-sponsored by SUNARMA and Send a Cow at Muketuri in January 2008. Among the strengths registered by the project are the cohesiveness and sense of ownership of group members, their appreciation of the empowering nature of the training, and their self-monitoring and determination to make their groups sustainable. Gains to diet and farm income have already been seen in vegetable production. A culture of saving has been established. The remaining 18 months of this first phase need to consolidate the work begun in livestock management and marketing (with emphasis on breeding, forage development and shelter) and to promote increased functional literacy among the women so that they can more fully assume leadership roles. The woreda authorities have welcomed the project’s work as compatible with their own development plans.