Enabling Communities to Regenerate Mountain
Landscapes in African Highlands
Tilahun Amede and Team
Stakeholders’ Workshop on Enhancing Communities’ Adaptive Capacity to Climate
Change Induced Water Scarcity in Kabe Watershed, South Wollo Zone
Wollo University, Dessie, Ethiopia, 24-25 November 2011

ILRI
It works at the crossroads of livestock and
poverty, bringing high-quality science and
capacity-building to bear on poverty reduction
and sustainable development.
It has its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, and a
principal campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
(i) Sustainable Intensification of smallholder
mixed crop-livestock systems; and
(ii) Reducing Vulnerability of livestock-dependent
households in marginal systems

CPWF Consortium Members
AREO

Phase 2

Characteristics of the Nile Basin
 Nine Riparian countries ;
 Catchment area over 3 million
km2, about 6,671 km long; longest
river in the world;
 Average flow of the Nile is about
84 km3/year, but extreme values of
120 and 42 km3/year, showing
wide fluctuations in flow;
 Fluctuations are likely to be
exacerbated with climate change and
variability.

Nile Basin faced with these major challenges:
o Fragile landscapes, unproductive water loss, decline
in soil fertility, low productivity and seasonal
water shortage;
o Under-utilized potential of local people to manage
their resources sustainably and to articulate
their demands; Collective action???
o Conventional research approaches that are not
addressing complexity of NRM and the real
demands arising from local levels;
o Limited capacity of researchers and their
organizations to avail technological options;
o Weak institutional capacity to design supportive
policies and/or implement them and respond to
complex development challenges;

Nile Basin Development Challenge (NBDC)
• NBDC research focuses on the Ethiopian
highlands and will examine the interrelated issues
of rainwater management at Landscape and Sub-
basin scales;
• Understanding causes and its consequences of low
rainwater productivity;
• Innovations for improving rainwater management
systems; addressing poverty, vulnerability and
resources degradation in the basin.
o Managing rainfall variability; increased water
storage;
o Crop and livestock water productivity;
o Minimizing land degradation and downstream
siltation of water storage infrastructure,
increased biomass;
o Resilient communities and systems that will
manage climatic and market shocks

Linkages
Sub- Impact
Nile 1.
regional Inventory Learning
and synthesis
Nile 2.
Nile 4. Nile 5.
Innovations,
Consequences Coordination
Land-
Linkages
, impact, , platforms
technologies
scape tradeoffs , practices
Nile 3.
Mapping,
targeting.
Up-scaling
Farm
level Linkages Communication

AHI Benchmark Locations
AHI Benchmark Locations
o
o
Ginchi
Areka
o o
o
Benchmark
Kakamega-Maseno
Embu Elevation > 1200 m
Kabale 2
Population dens. >200 p/km
o Lushoto
o Antsirabe
o
Fianarantsoa

AHI’s Approach
Use a mixture of participatory action and empirical
research at pilot sites
while findings and experiences are systematized at
regional level
Approaches and methods are defined on the basis of
demonstrated local impact
& promoted through strategic partnerships & multi-
disciplinary teams with combination of research & development
members
Work directly with communities on their issues & aim to
build local capacity
combining local and scientific knowledge through
community participation
Integrate social, biophysical and policy dimensions
at different levels (plot, farm, landscape) with systems &
multiple stakeholder perspectives

Approach to Watershed Management
• Participatory  defined around landscape-level
NRM issues of interest to local residents only;
• Integrates livelihood / production and
conservation concerns of farmers;
• Flexible boundaries  encompasses larger
social, institutional and biophysical issues required
to address watershed issues ;
• Small-scale  5 to 10 villages

Expanding the base:
institutionalizing approaches
Process Steps for within R&D organizations
achieving integrated
Links / advocacy between
watershed management
groups & district, resource
sources and services
Linkages between
farmer groups Scaling up
Setting up monitoring & Monitoring &
review systems documentation
Implementation participatory
R&D & policy reforms
Strengthening
collective action Methodology
Participatory diagnosis development
& planning (action research)
Group formation &
mobilization
Understanding community
institutions
Contact & rapport Skill building
building
Stroud 2001

Creating common understanding; Creating confidence
and managing change through negotiations
1. Joint
Problem
identification Owner
(private
good)
2. Local consultations
On priorities and potential Spring
(public
interventions good)
3. Mobilization
of local 4. Encouragement 5. Community
elders of owners to negotiations &
enter negotiations concessions

PRA tools to prioritize local constraints
Central highlands South-west highlands
(Dendi woreda) (Bolloso Sorre woreda)
 Shortage of oxen  Unpredictable weather
 Loss of seeds and fertilizers  Soil erosion
 Soil fertility decline  Rising fertilizer price
 Lack of fodder and fuel wood  Soil fertility decline
 Water shortage for livestock  Shortage of oxen

INRM in Watershed Management
Immediate need for Maximization
• Properties of densely settled highland landscapes in E.
Africa
 The need to get multiple returns from small areas of land
(fuel, fodder, food, income)
 Tightly coupled interactions among system components (tree,
crop, soil, livestock, water) and users
 Maximization for food security but ??
Long term interest for Optimization
• Improving resilience of production systems
 Offers ecosystem services for sustainable use;
 Provides opportunities through which social and biophysical
trade-offs can be captured and managed

Facilitating Integrated Watershed Management

Collective Action for WSM; Byelaws
Collective Action in Watershed Management
 To regulate rights & responsibilities & increase investment in public goods
 To manage biophysical processes that do not respect farm boundaries
(pests, nutrient & water flows, boundary effects)
 To negotiate joint investments and technological innovations for ↑ productivity
 To regulate benefits and equity
Negotiating benefits between FRG
members and the WS community

Integrating insitu water harvesting technologies to
maximize productivity
Increased water infiltration
Concentration of resources Year 1
(OM, nutrients, water)
Year 2 Year 3

Micro dose

Zai pits
8
0
7
0
6
0 Fm
a C
r
5
0
4
0
3
0
4
Tuberyield(t/ha)
3
2
1
0
2
4
2
1
1
8 Fm
a B
r
1
5
1
2
4
Tuberyield(t/ha)
3
2
1
8
0
0
7
0
6
0 Fm
a A
r
5
0
4
0
Tuberyield(t/ha) 1
2
8
4
0
30NN
30NN
30NN
60N
60N
60N
0
0
0
C to W otZ W Z
o rl
n ihu a
t i ih a
t i

Rehabilitated gullies; changing landscapes

Improved technologies to reach to more communities

Low Crop yields constrained by soil fertility and water
availability in the Blue Nile basin (Erkosa, 2010)
Yield (t ha-1) % Biomass in Water productivity
Soil fertility reference to (kg m-3)
Biomass Grain well well Biomass Grain
watered fertilized
Poor 7.5 2.5 100 39 5.1 1.7
Near optimal 14.3 6.4 100 75 5.3 2.4
Non limiting 19.2 9.2 100 100 5.4 2.6

Unproductive water loss in our
Landscapes
Kuhar Michael - all cropland Lenche Dima - all cropland
1800 3000
1600
2500
1400
flows per HH (m3)
flows per HH (m3)
1200 2000
1000 livestock livestock
1500
crops
800 crops
1000
600
400 500
200
0
0
evaporation
transpiration
percolation
runoff
percolation
evaporation
transpiration
runoff
deep
deep

Most of the Livestock feed is used for
survival; little for productive use
Kuhar Michael - energy requirements Lenche Dima - energy requirements
6%
0%
1% 6% 11% maintenance
3%
maintenance 0%
feeding
5%
feeding lactation
3% 1%
lactation pregnancy
4% 3%
draught power
pregnancy
3% transport
draught power
4% walking
transport
growth
walking 73%
77% growth

Optimized land allocation for an improved human nutrition in
Ginchi Highlands, Ethiopia
Enset
Kale
Potato
Wheat
Barely
Current land use Suggested
Faba bean
land use
Amede, Stroud & Aune, 2004

Local institutions for NRM
Functions/ local Areka (Ethiopia) Ginchi (Ethiopia) Lushoto
institution (Tanzania)
Land institutions Sharecropping, Yekul -
contracting and renting
Livestock Kota, Missa–kotta, Ulo – As in Areka Rotational livestock
institutions kottaa, Hara and Gatuwa groups (kopa
ng’ombe, lipa
ng’ombe)
Labor institution Debo and Zaye Debo Kiwili, Ngemo
Mutual assistance Iddir, Iqube, and Meskel Iddir kube, Kibati
institutions Banking Senbete
Traditional leaders - Jabir, Gadu, Zumbe
Qaalluu, Qaallitti Council of elders
Recreation Mahiber Mahber Traditional dances,
Kidembwa (kitchen
Parties (women
on), sports
Conflict resolution Council of elders Jabir, Gadu, Zumbe, council of
Qaalluu, council elders
of elders

Evolution of adoption of NRM technologies
Evolution of adoption –
1) Elephant grass (cultivars from ILRI selected by
farmers) planted on conservation bunds 
feeds more cattle in dry season  more income
and more milk
2) Causes farmers to put in more bunds along the
slopes
more conservation, more fodder, more organic
matter
3) Farmers combine & add other technologies on the
bunds (fruit trees, fodder trees, etc.)
more food, more income

Matching resource endowments with niches to improve
resource management
Endowment Category Niche for Intensification
Low input labor; legumes &
POOREST: Limited land, wage
MTPs; higher value cash crop
laborers, less diversified, no
(CBD coffee)
livestock, no inputs
MIDDLE: More land, own Livestock feed system, intensify
labour but limiting, some cash manure use, increase diversification
crops, some livestock, some - range of options (inorganic x organic,
trading legume covers, improved crop management)
MOST: Excess land & rent, hire
Wood lots, experiment on behalf of
labor, large livestock, buy inputs,
others; pay higher wage rates?,
well diversified
micro-enterprise development,
livestock feed system, S&W
conservation (soil bunds with grass &
compost)

Expanding Adoption and Integration of Soil Fertility
Technologies: Using Farmer Experimentation & Exchange
1) Start with entry points: “best bets” Separate pathways for
different social groups emerge
 “poor” select varieties & bunds
 “better off” select varieties
2) Farmer experimentation expands as change agent catalyzes
greater experimentation
 “poor” select multipurpose trees, CBD coffee
 “medium” select organic x inorganic combinations, legume
cover crops, crop management
 “better off” select compost, bunds with fodder grasses
3) Farmers start to share through farmer groups & exchanges
 move towards integrating many options

A model from plot to watershed management
Entry points and evolution of INM in Areka benchmark site
Variety trial Soil bunds
Variety trial
Variety trial Forage trial Soil bunds Variety trialtrial
Fertilizer
WI W II W III &IV W III &IV
Researcher - farmer linkage
Researcher -Farmer Linkage phase
-
•LCCs •Multipurpose trees Compost
•Residue management •CBD resistant coffee Soil bunds with forages
•Organic-Inorganic •Small enterprises Conservation farming
.
Integrated soil fertility management
Integrated soil fertility management
B
(commodities + management) D
E
Integrated Watershed Mangnt
(new components)
C Amede etal, 2004

Decision guide for integration of legumes into systems
Own livestock Don’t own livestock
Fertile land Fertile land
Large/small farm Small land size
Good market Good/ poor market
Food & feed Food legumes
legumes
Non-fertile land Non-fertile land
Large farm size Small land size
Good market Poor market
Food & feed Cover crops
legumes, cover crops
Amede, Delve & Kirkby, 2002

Reaching more farmers and Communities through
field days, cross site visits, community meetings.
(Photo Courtesy Gebre Medhin, 2005).

Building the capacity of extension agents and
Communities (A case in Alaba, Southern Ethiopia)

Regional/global organizations
S
C
A National organizations and institutions
L
I
N
G Local organizations and institutions
U
P
More communities More communities
Scaling out (horizontal)

Scaling up: From Bottom Up …to Bottom (Scaling down)
Decision-makers Tools and methods
better informed to extensively used
help farmers to facilitate
Tested and collectively scaling-up
verified manage landscapes
across the AFRICA
community
ooo
o
and beyond
oUGANDA o
Technologies,
Tools & o o o
methods o o
developed
o o

Implications for climate change adaptation
More protected soils, minimized risks
Increased water budgets; improved water
storage
Increased biomass cover, more food, more feed,
resilient systems
Increased organic matter, more C-sequestration
Collective action, improved planning of
watersheds, niches for investments

Scaling up good technologies and practices
• Availability of technological options;
• Development of convincing approaches;
• Financial capacity of the users / risk;
• Functional partnership;
• Supportive policy;
• Supportive infrastructure;
• Attractive market opportunities

Challenges ...
b Moving into non-conventional INRM research frontiers
b Maintaining & forming partnership
b Dealing with diversity & complexity
b Farm communities taking charge slowly
b Complex Institutional arrangements
b Weal Institutional Capacity to promote NRM agenda
b Scaling-up beyond learning sites

Our Joint Project:
Enhancing Communities’ Adaptive
Capacity to Climate Change in Drought-
prone Hotspots of the Blue Nile basin
(Kabe, Ethiopia)
(Wollo University, ILRI, UNEP, ARARI)

This book documents a decade of
research, methodological innovation and lessons
learned in an eco-regional research-for-development
program operating in the eastern African highlands, the
African Highlands Initiative. It does this through
reflections of the protagonists themselves - AHI site
teams and partners applying an action research
orientation to development innovation as a means to
enhance the impact orientation of research. It
summarizes the experiences of farmers, research and
development workers, policy and decision makers who
have interacted within an innovation system aiming to
operationalize an approach to Integrated Natural
Resource Management in the humid highlands. The
book demonstrates the crucial importance of 'approach'
in the outcomes derived from research and
development work, and distills lessons learnt on 'what
works, where and why.' It is enriched with examples
and case studies from five benchmark sites in
Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya, whose variability provides
the reader with an in-depth knowledge of the
complexities of NRM in agroecosystems that play an
important role in the rural economy of the region. It is
shown that the struggle to achieve sustainable
agricultural development in challenging environments is
a difficult one, and can only be effectively achieved
through combined efforts and commitment of
individuals and institutions with complementary roles.

Acknowledgement
• ARARI
• SARI, Areka research centre
• EIAR, Holleta ARC
• KARI-Kenya
• DRD-Tanzania
• NARO-Uganda
• MOAs in the respective countries
• Donors: SDC, Netherlands Govnt, EU,
DFID

Thank you !