ecological in ethiopia

8/8/2019 Ecological in Ethiopia

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Report

Ecological in Ethiopia

Farming with nature increases protability

and reduces vulnerability


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Text: Jakob Lundberg and Fredrik Moberg, Albaeco

Production: Albaeco

Graphic design: Christine Clifstock, Clifstock Form

Project management: Karin Hk, Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC)

Cover: Millet in close-up (Photo: Jerker Lokrantz, Azote)

Photo: Jakob Lundberg, Anneli Nordling, Hillevi Rundstrm, Hailu Araya

Print: EO print AB, Stockholm 2008

ISBN: 91 558 8041 X

Order nr: 9 9361

Produced with economic support from Sida - Swedish International Development

Cooperation Agency. Sida has not participated in the production of the publication

and has not evaluated the facts or opinions that are expressed.


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Foreword

Agriculture world-wide must change its course to promote the international targets oneradicating poverty, decreasing hunger and sustainable development in general. Agriculturein al l the worlds countries must be based more on ecosystem services than on ossil uels.Only then can access to ood and water or all be secured, climate change limited and bio-logical diversity protected.

In the increasing ow o documents on climate change and other serious environmentaldisruptions, the Swedish Society or Nature Conservation wishes to present a particularlypositive example in this report. We describe an agricultural project in northern Ethiopia thathas succeeded in reversing the developments in an area ormerly severely aected by problemssuch as soil erosion and hunger. Here, poor subsistence armers, researchers, local advisorsand agricultura l experts and the environmental organisation Institute or Sustainable Devel-opment which is supported by the Swedish Society or Nature Conservation have togetherdevised a cropping system which is based on local inputs, biological diversity and other eco-system services. Te project has produced a range o positive results such as higher yields,higher groundwater levels, better soil ertility, decreased susceptibility to drought, increasedincome and better opportunities to make a living.

Te report concludes with the Swedish Society or Nature Conservations recommenda-tions, which we hope can inspire practitioners, politicians and many others to make decisionsthat promote sustainable development. A range o comprehensive reorms are necessary, notleast within aid and research.

Tis report was prepared by Albaeco on the commission o the Swedish Society or Na-ture Conservation. Work on the report was carried out within the ramework o the SwedishSociety or Nature Conservations international environmental policy programme, in col-

laboration with Albaeco and researchers rom Stockholm University and the Swedish Univer-sity o Agricultural Sciences. It would not have been possible to produce this report w ithoutthe valuable help we received rom the Ethiopian environmental organisation Institute orSustainable Development and its sta and rom local armers and agricultural advisors inigray. Te Swedish Society or Nature Conservation warmly thanks al l those involved.

Tis is a rst report in a series that will highlight positive examples o how agriculturecan be structured so as to contribute to sustainable development, with the ocus on securingaccess to ood or the worlds growing population and the environment on which we are allundamentally dependent.

Mikael KarlssonPresident o the Swedish Society or Nature Conservation (SSNC)


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1. Introduction 7

2. Agriculture based on local resources and ecosystem services 10

3. Diversication o crops and cropping methods 14

4. Water management in a landscape perspective 18

5. Womens livelihood a key to success 21

6. Conclusions 24

7. Recommendations 25

8. Sources and urther reading 26

able o contents


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Small-scale agricultural landscape in Tigray,

northern Ethiopia. Here, a successful example

of sustainable agriculture has resulted in

reduced soil erosion and higher yields.

Photo: Anneli Nordling


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his report describes a successul example o sustainable agriculture in Northern Ethiopia wherestakeholder involvement and support to local armers have been key. Te project, which goesunder the name o the igray Project, has achieved a range o positive results in a region that has

previously been severely aected by soil erosion and decreasing yields. Experts rom local to nationallevel together with the armers in the region have devised a arming system that is based more on bio-logical diversity particularly the rich knowledge and agrobiodiversity o the armers and ecosystemservices (see Box 1) than on ossil uel, in order to provide a long-term secure ood supply and ecologi-cally sustainable agriculture. Te project, which is primarily directed at small armers with around onehectare o cultivated land, has resulted in e.g. higher yields, higher groundwater levels, better soil ertil-ity, increased household income and stronger livelihood opportunities or women. Te government hasnow adopted the approach used in the project to mitigate soil damage and to alleviate poverty in 165local districts in the grain-producing parts o Ethiopia.

1. Introduction

Box 1: Ecosystem services

Ecosystem services are all those benets thatecosystems provide. Human wellbeing anddevelopment are completely dependent onthese services, or example purication oair and water, climate stabilisation, erosioncontrol, pollination o crops, natural pest con-trol, providing essential products includingood, bre, sh and timber, and the ability tomitigate the eects o natural disasters.

Role o ecosystems in securingaccess to ood

Providing a long-term ood supply or a growing globalpopulation without this resulting in damaging eects onboth climate and ecosystems is one o t he greatest challeng-es acing mankind. It will demand considerable changes inexisting resource use patterns and cultivation systems. Terationalisation o orestry and agriculture over the past cen-tury or so has admittedly led to unprecedented economicdevelopment, increased yields and a reduction in povertyor many people, but it has also meant that the natural sys-tems on which we depend are now so critica lly stressed thatthey are losing their ability to supply benets, so-calledecosystem services, to our societies. Tis is already givingrise to a number o undesirable eects, such as water de-ciency, hunger, considerable losses o biological diversityand a steadily growing number o climate reugees. Despitea range o improvements, three out o our o the worldspoorest people, totalling up to a billion people, live in rura lareas in developing countries and run a constant risk o be-ing severely aected i crops ail or cattle d ie.

Te poor and hungry, to a greater extent than others, aredirectly dependent on unctioning ecosystems and thoseservices that the local ecosystems supply or their survival.Te world-wide decline o insects that pollinate important

agricultura l crops is one o many examples o how the eco-system services on which mankind relies are now beingthreatened. Agriculture is al so reliant on a number o otherecosystem services such as water purication, natural pestcontrol and maintenance o soil ertility. Continued weak-ening o ecosystems can thereore have considerable conse-quences or uture ood security and restrict the potentialto attain the UN Millennium arget o halving the numbero people suering rom hunger and chronic malnutritionby 2015.

In recent years a range o reports, with the UN Millen-nium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) at the oreront (see Box3), have shown how the ability o ecosystems to secure hu-man welare has declined. At the present time, 60 % o eco-

system services are already being overexploited or threateneddue to e.g. damage to habitats, invading species, eutrophica-tion and environmental pollutants. Te accelerating changesin world climate pose an additional threat. According to theUN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), largeareas o e.g. Arica could be stricken by yield decreases o over50 % by the year 2020 as a result o an increasingly hotter anddrier climate.

Furthermore, during the coming 50 years the globalpopulation is expected to increase by 6080 mil lion peopleper year and the greatest increase will occur in sub-SaharanArica. Tese people will all require secure access to ood,

just like the current over 800 million people who alreadydo not have sucient ood or their daily needs. In otherwords, increasing amounts o ood will be needed while atthe same time the use o ossil uel which is the basis otodays intensive agriculture will have to decrease due toclimate change. Te cost o ossil uel is a lso expected to in-crease dramatically due to declining reserves. In the lighto all this, developing a orm o agriculture that is based toa greater extent on ecosystem services than the present in-dustrial model appears to be an increasingly attract ive solu-tion, since i designed correctly it could decrease the needor ossil uel and also render agriculture less vulnerable toclimate change.


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Te igray Project

Te igray Project began as an experiment in sustainable de-velopment and ecological arming in igray, the most north-erly state in Ethiopia. Here, experts rom local to national lev-el together with the regions armers have begun to employ a

number o sustainable cult ivation methods in order to restorethe water balance and decrease the need or articial ertil-isers, while reversing the eects o overgrazing, soil erosionand damage to water courses. Since the start in 1996 untilnow, the project has been managed by the Institute or Sus-tainable Development (ISD), the Bureau o Agriculture andRural Development (BoARD) in igray, Mekelle University,the local communities and their local authorities. Te aim isto help arming amilies increase their productivity throughrehabilitating their environments, create improved livelihoodopportunities and prevent the amine disasters that have pre-

viously ofen aected the region in conjunction with recur-ring periods o drought.

Te methods introduced by the Institute or Sustainable

Development (see Box 2) in collaboration with armers andthe local authorities, also have the advantage that they utiliseavailable local resources and armers knowledge. In this waythey eliminate the need to use ossil uel in the orm o chemi-cal ertilizers. In addition, they contribute to making the lo-cal population better equipped to deal with uture climatechange. Te activities carried out within the project include:

Traininginhowcompostcanbemadeandusedtore-cycle nutrients and eliminate the need or articial er-tilisers (gives more stable and ertile soils with increasedwater-holding capacity).

Makingtrenchbundsbetweeneldsandconstructionofupstream check dams in gullies to hold water and soil,and decrease the rate o water ow to reduce soil erosion.

Creationofpondsandsmallearthorstoneandcementdams to collect water or the dry period.

Training insmall-scale traditionalfood processing forunemployed young women who have completed theirschooling.

Strengthening protection against uncontrolled move-ment o domestic animals and overgrazing on slopes andother sensitive areas.

Plantingofmultipurposetrees(particularlySesbania ses-ban, which provides orage, uel and shade, while a lso ac-ting as an erosion barrier and natural nitrogen ertiliser).

Reintroductionof indigenous grassspeciesin order todecrease soil erosion and increase the water-holding ca-pacity o the catchment area.

Supportforpoorwomen-headedhouseholds. Supplyingseedsandseedlingstoplantfruitandvegeta-

ble gardens (ruit trees, bushes, vegetables and medicinalplants are particularly in demand).

Supportforlowtechnologysolutionsto improveaccessto water in the dry season, such as rainwater harvesting(collecting and saving rainwater or use during dry peri-ods) and oot pumps.

Te our communities that were included in the rst phase othe igray Project chose to ocus on the issues they conside-red to be the most urgent or their area. Tis led to the deve-lopment o a range o dierent strategies and a exibility thatprobably contributed to the success when the project was ex-tended in stages to other districts in igray and then to otherregions o Ethiopia. Tere are great advantages in being opento suggestions and being exible when new managementprogrammes are being introduced, so as to meet local needs,increase engagement through utilising armers knowledgeand testing the way orward to achieve the best results.

By 2008 the principles o the igray Project regarding

Within the Tigray project, farmers have used a number of innovations to overcome overgrazing, soil erosion (see small picture) anddepletion of water resources. Photo: Jakob Lundberg


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Box 2: Institute for SustainableDevelopment (ISD)

Te ISD began its activities in a shared project withlocal armers, the Bureau o Agriculture and RuralDevelopment (BoARD), and Mekelle University in

the igray Province in Northern Ethiopia in 1996.Te aim o the ISD is to help armers improve theirenvironment and productivity with the help o eco-logically based methods or natural resources man-agement. oday (2008), this model has spread to morethan 25 % o the arming communities in igray, and165 districts throughout the grain-producing areaso Ethiopia. Te ISD is also working with environ-ment clubs in schools and out-o-school urban youthgroups where training and support to maintain andenhance cultural and biological diversity and agri-culture are some o the cornerstones. Te ISD is alsoworking together with the Ethiopian EnvironmentalProtection Authority, or example in order to intro-duce better protection o the rights o local commu-nities and to st rengthen their rights to conserve andutilise their natural biological resources.

Portrait 1: ewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabherand Sue Edwards initiators o the

igray Project

Husband and wie ewolde and Sue are the inspiration be-hind the igray Project. ewolde has devoted most o his

lie to issues relating to the preservation o biological di-versity and the rights o Ethiopian armers to their own ge-netic resources. For the latter, he won the alternative Nobelprize, the Right Livelihood Award, in 2000. His long andchequered career ranges rom taking his doctorate in Walesto being director o the Ethiopian Environmental Protec-tion Authority. Sue Edwards, who was born in England butwho has been living in Ethiopia since 1968, is the directoro the Institute or Sustainable Development (ISD) in AddisAbaba the organisation behind the igray Project. She isa botanist special ising in taxonomy, but also a lecturer, sci-ence journalist and editor o Flora o Ethiopia and Eritrea,a seven-volume work that aims to describe the 6500-7000plant species ound in the region. She is passionate about

the importance o involving Aricas armers as ull partnersin any developments to improve agricultural production inArica.

soil improvement measures had begun to be applied in morethan 165 communities in the grain-producing regions oEthiopia. Tis expansion was made possible through con-tinuous collaboration with local armers, arming expertsand rural development workers at various levels. Tis col-laboration involved initiating workshops, producing in-ormation material and encouraging armers to train oneanother and exchange experiences. Great considerationhas been given throughout the project to adapting the

methods to the local conditions. Te project is managed byeveryone rom local armers via agricultural authorities tothe Ethiopian Environmental Protection Authority withsome strategic support rom the UN Development Pro-gramme (UNDP). Other important sources o support orthe ISD have been the Tird World Network rom the starto the project to the present, and the Swedish Society or Na-ture Conservation since 2005.

Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher and Sue Edwards the initiators of the Tigray project. Photo: Anneli Nordling


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Te igray Project draws benet rom theree services o nature

Te armers in the igray area benet rom a range o eco-system services in order to achieve a long-term sustainableood supply in combination with ecologically sustainableagriculture (see able 1). Wild species in the area contrib-ute services such as pollination, natural pest control, pu-rication o water and recycling o nutrients. Biologicaldiversity and the ecosystem services provided thus decreaseor eliminate the need or articial ertilisers and pesticides.Instead o articial ertilisers, compost is used to recycle plantnutrients to the land in a natura l way. Plant nutrients are alsoprovided through the armers growing legumes (e.g. ababean), which enrich the soil thanks to their ability to utilisethe nitrogen in the air (biological nitrogen xation).

2. A orm o agriculture based on localresources and ecosystem services

griculture both generates and is dependent on a range o ecosystem services such as pollination,water purication, natural pest control and maintenance o ertile soils. Avoiding depletion oglobal ecosystems is thereore decisive or uture ood security in order to decrease the number

o starving people in the world. Te igray Project is an example o how agriculture can be developed sothat it promotes the production o ecosystem services and minimises the impact on the climate.

According to the UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment(see Box 3), 60 % o the planets ecosystem services arecurrently overexploited or threatened due to e.g. damageto habitats, invading species, eutrophication and environ-mental pollutants. Te changes in global climate pose anadditional threat. Industrialised arming is one o the mainreasons behind the degradation o ecosystem services.In light o this, a growing number o voices are calling ora orm o agriculture based on local inputs, biologicaldiversity and maintained or improved ecosystem services.Correctly designed, this could decrease the need or ossil ueland also make agriculture less susceptible to climate change.

a) Pollination of lime and other fruit trees is an example of a crucial ecosystem service for agricultural prodution in Tigray. Several of themethods used in the project enhance pollinat ion and other ecosystem services. b) Wahad Gurastay. Photo: Anneli Nordling.

Future agriculture must be based moreon biodiversity and ecosystem services

than fossil fuels


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Can this type o ecosystem services-based agriculture reallyprovide sucient ood or an ever increasing population? Dr.ewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, the godather o the igrayProject, has no doubts: I am convinced that organic armingcan provide us with sucient ood. Previous arming societ-ies have done so or thousands o years. With our increasedknowledge we ought to be able to succeed better than them.

Dr. ewolde personally believes t hat the rationale behindthe project is to support and enhance rather than disruptthe natural cycles that support the unctions o the ecosys-tem as a whole.

Te poor armers who are involved in the project haveobtained very promising results through using sustainablearming methods such as composting, a varied crop rota-tion, inter-cropping o several dierent species o crops onone eld and collection/storage o rainwater. Among thepositive eects are increased yields, higher groundwaterlevels and increased sel -determination or women. Te i-gray Project is an example o how agriculture can be devel-oped so that it is based on local knowledge and resourcesthat ensure local circulation o plant nutrients, while at thesame time avouring and enhancing ecosystem services and

minimising the impact on the climate.Te UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) adopts

the same theme in the report State o Food and Agriculture2007, which recommends directing payments to armers orthe ecosystem services they provide. Te FAO claims that thiscould be a good way o protecting the environment and doingsomething about the growing problems o climate change, de-clining biological diversity and lack o access to water.

Pay armers or supplying ecosystem services

In the igray Project armers receive direct payments ortheir work in the orm o increased yields and more ser-

vices that contribute to increased welare, or example uelwood, honey and better acce ss to drinking water. However,in the same way as growers today receive payment or wheator coee, they should also be paid or providing importantecosystem services, or example protection rom ooding,water purication, maintenance o biological diversity oruptake o greenhouse gases. Te FAO, like the MillenniumEcosystem Assessment, believes that one o the most impor-tant reasons or the environmental problems in agricultureis that a number o ecosystem services do not have any di-rect market value. Farmers thereore actually have no eco-nomic incentive to protect ecosystems or to use the servicesthey provide in a sustainable way.

oday armers receive payment or the amount o ood,bre or biouel they produce, while the value o other eco-system services that agriculture can produce is under-estimated. A range o misguided subsidies also promotesteadily accelerating productivity at the expense o ecosys-tem services, according to the FAO and the MillenniumEcosystem Assessment. Te FAO suggests that the system opayments or ecosystem services could e.g. comprise directpayments rom governments to producers or indirect pay-ments through consumers paying ext ra or ecosystem ser-

vices-producing ood in the same way that they currentlypay extra or air-traded or organic coee.

A number o current global reports highlight the samepoint: uture agriculture must be based more on biological di-

versity and ecosystem services than ossil uel which increas-ingly appears to be the only long-term sustainable alternative.

Composting decisive

A deciding actor in the success o the igray Project is com-posting. Tis involves the accumulation and proper arrange-ment/mixing o animal manure, crop residues, weeds and

organic household waste in pits in the ground so that theycan be broken down into compost, which is used as a soilconditioner. Researchers rom the Institute or SustainableDevelopment (ISD) have shown that the yields rom landwhere this compost ertiliser is used are greater than thoserom land on which articial ertil isers are used. A numbero other positive eects o compost use have also been identi-ed, viz: increased biological diversity, decreased incidenceo weeds (the seeds are killed when the compost heats upduring the decomposition process), decreased vulnerabilityto drought (increased soil humus content increases water-holding capacity), higher resistance to pests and lower costsor armers compared with buying articial ertiliser.

Box 3: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

Te global UN study, the Millennium EcosystemAssessment (MA), was carried out between 2000and 2005. Over 1400 leading researchers and other

experts rom 95 countries took part in the study,which ocused on the ree services provided bynature that are o benet to mankind. Te resultsshow that around 60 % o the ecosystem servicesstudied are being destroyed or used in a non-sus-tainable way, or example air and water purication,pollination o crops, natural pest control, ood, bre,sh and wood, and the ability o the ecosystem tomitigate the eects o natural disasters.

According to the MA, the status o ecosystemsworld-wide is so badly deteriorated that this canhave great negative consequences or attainment othe UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),which were adopted in 2001 and which include halv-ing poverty and hunger in the world and securingaccess to clean drinking water. However, accord-

ing to the uture scenarios in the MA, the negativetrends could be reversed, as we have the tools, poli-cies and technology required to drastically decreasethe losses o ecosystem services. Tis would involve,among other strategies, stopping the subsidies thatlead to over-use o chemical pesticides and arti-cial ertilisers in agriculture, measures to mitigatethe impacts o cl imate change, market mechanismsor setting a price on ecosystem services and invest-ment in the sustainable management o importantecosystems.


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Box 4: UN climate panel on agriculture and ecosystem services

In 2005, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) produced its ourth major assessment o climatechange. In this, t he panel o experts reported that anthropogenic emissions o greenhouse gases have already had seriouseects on the planet, or example more ooding, more extreme drought, displacement o animal species and meltingglaciers. Te IPCC also reported that the changes observed to date wi ll become increasingly obvious, with considerableconsequences or ecosystems, agriculture, ood production and human health. I global warming continues, up to one-third o the worlds plant and animal species will have died out by the end o this century. Tis is expected to lead toconsiderable negative eects on the capacity o ecosystems to supply goods and services to society.

Portrait 2: Gebre Mikael,beekeeper and armer

According to honey producers in the area, the benet othe igray Project is that there are now plenty o herbs andbushes, which bees need to collect nectar and pollen. Tis,together with the introduction o new, modern and morehigh-yielding hives where the bees are helped to make cellsand keep the brood and honey storage sections apart, has

led to an increase in beekeeping according to Gebre Mikael,who specialises in honey production. He builds hives andrears swarms and even queens, which he sells to others. Hewas given the land where he has his beehives along a slopeabove the village by the local authority. oday he has 26modern and ve traditional beehives. Honey productionis important in Ethiopia, both or armers household con-sumption and as a source o income in the local market. Inrecent years, the popular white honey rom igray has alsobegun to be exported. Last but not least, honey productionalso contributes to increased pollination o crops and there-by generates an essential ecosystem service that increasesyields in the area.

a) Gebre Mikael combines honey production with farming. This strategy provides both honey and improved yields with the help of hisbees. b) The use of compost is a pillar of the Tigray project. Photo: Jakob Lundberg

Biodiversity is critical for our local

food security


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Practises

Installationof

trenchbunds

andcheckdams

toholdwater

andsoil,and

decrease

gully

formation

Poly-culture/

inte

rcropping

(gro

wingseveral

differentcrops

onthesame

feld)

Variedcrop

rotation(e.g.

nitrogenf

xing

plants)

Composting

Plantingofmulti-

functionaltrees

Restrictionof

freegrazingand

developmentof

localcommunity

by-laws

Makingponds

Useandconser-

vationoflocal

plantvarieties

andlandraces

Useoflocal

herbsfor

medicinesan

d

forbiological

controlofpes

t

organisms

Raisingseed-

lingsoflong

seasoncropsin

nurseries

Erosionprevention

+++

++

++

+++

Recyclingofnutrients

+++

+++

+++

+

+

Biologicalnitrogen

xation

++

+++

+

+++

++

+

Pollination

++

++

++

+

+++

Weedandpestcontrol

++

+++

++

++

++

Bufferagainst

ooding

+++

+

+

++

Conservationof

geneticdiversity

++

++

+

+++

+

Conservationofsoil

fertility

++

++

+++

+

+++

Improvementof

soilwater-holding

capacity

++

+

+

+++

+

+

Abilitytobindcarbon

(contributetode-

creasedgreenhouse

effect)

+

+

+++

++

++

Effectonlivelihood

opportunitiesfor

farmers

Increased

agriculturalarea,

increasedaccess

towater

Largerandmore

stab

leyields,

in-

crea

seddiversity

ofproducts

Largerandmore

stableyields,

in-

creaseddiversity

ofproducts

Largeryields,

decreasedwat

er

stress,

improved

soilquality,

impro-

vedsoilaeratio

n

underexcessr

ain

Increasedaccess

tofood,

feed,

fuel

wood,

improved

adaptability,more

milkfromcows

Improvedproduc-

tivityandhealthin

domesticanimals,

recoveryofnatural

oraa

ndf

auna

Incr

easedaccess

tow

aterforani-

mals;prolonged

growingseason

Improvedabilityto

adapttovariations

inclimateand

environment

Higheryieldsa

nd

improvedanim

al,

cropandhuma

n

health

Prolongedgro-

wingseason,and

improvedhuman

health

able1:Summarisingmatrixwithexamplesosomeothemostimportantpracticesused

intheigrayProjectandtheecosystemservicespromotedbytherespectivemethod.+++=

stronglypromoted,

++=mediumefect,+=noticeableefect.T

ematrixhasbeendevelopedtogetherwithJohannaBjrklund,SwedishUniversityoAgriculturalSciences.


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3. Diversication o cropsand cropping methods

iological diversity in agriculture is a way to spread the risks and decrease the cost o expensiveinputs. Diversity o species also contributes important ecosystem services such as pollinatinginsects, natural pest control, water purication and maintenance o ertile soil.

Global biological diversity is decreasing rapidly, both in nat-ural ecosystems and in agriculture, orestry and aquaculture.For example, today our species rice, maize, wheat and po-tato make up about hal the energy intake o humans romthe plant kingdom. In a similar way, almost hal o globalmeat production comes rom only a ew breeds o pig, chick-en and cattle. Furthermore, the richness o variation withinthe dierent species used in agriculture is declining. Oneexample o this is the loss o rice varieties. Only a ew de-cades ago, armers in India grew 30 000 dierent varieties orice, which were adapted to local conditions. Since the greenrevolution, these have been replaced by a ew high-yieldingrice varieties that are ofen grown in monoculture. Tis isleading to cropping systems with increased susceptibility todiseases, pests and climate change. o achieve protabilityand continuing high yields there is ofen a need or a range oossil uel-consuming and environmentally damaging culti-

vation inputs such as poorly managed irrigation, pesticidesand articial ertilisers items which poor armers seldomcan aord. One option is to leaprog this non-sustainabletechnical phase and increase productivity through a ormo agriculture based on local knowledge, increased diversityand new inormation about ecosystem services.

Diversity a natural part o daily lie in igray

In the igray area, diversity is a natural part o the daily lie oarmers. Like most other poor armers in the world, they donot rely solely on a ew staple crops but spread their risks withthe help o diversity in cultivation. Tey stimulate and exploitnatural processes to maintain soil ertility and to counteractpest attacks on crops. For example, the armers alternate cropson small elds where the same crop is not grown in neigh-bouring plots. Tey also grow dierent species together on thesame eld, that is, trees and bushes are mixed with dierentcrops to prevent weeds, diseases and pests gaining a oothold.

Farmers in igray have their own seed, saved rom plantsthat have given high yields in previous years. Many dierenttypes o seed are stored and armers exchange, are given orbuy at a low price rom their neighbours i they run out o anytype. How the varieties are mixed in the eld depends on arange o actors, or example how soon the rainy season startsand the soil type. I the rains begin in May or early June, arm-ers can plant varieties o nger millet, maize or sorghum thatgive higher yields but that requires a longer growing season.

In the 1950s, plant breeders around the entire world used genes from Ethiopias indigenous barley varieties in order to produce newvarieties that were resistant to the notorious Yellow Dwarf Virus. Photo: Anneli Nordling


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Box 5: Local ecological knowledge importantin protecting indigenous plant varieties

As a rule, armers in igray preer local indigenousplant varieties to the modern cultivated types thatare also available as seed on the market. Tis wasconrmed in a study carried out by researchers romTe Norwegian University o Lie Sciences (UMB) ins, Norway. In igray there are a number o local va-rieties o barley (Hordeum vulgare) with wide genetic

variation that have been developed over thousandso years through armers opting to save seeds rommother plants that proved to grow well under thelocal environmental and climate conditions. Many

o the modern varieties would in theory be able togrow better with more uniorm access to water andertiliser and i the crops were never attacked by pestsor diseases. However, in the daily lie o poor arm-ers, inputs such as irrigation, articial ertiliser andcrop protection chemicals are a rarity. Tese armersthereore need the tolerant, locally bred varieties oplants, which are adapted to the local environment.Tus, it is important to maintain a decentralised se-lection process based on local ecological knowledgein order to preserve the genetic variation in the crop

varieties grown.

Source: Fetien Abay Abera, 2007.

Nurseries for fruit trees like papaya and guava improve the livelihood of local people. In addition, crops that require a long growing seasonare pre-germinated together with multifunctional trees and shrubs. Multifunctional species are important for landscape conservation

and the generation of ecosystem services. For example, trees in and around the fields create habitats for birds which prevent pest insect

outbreaks. Photo: Jakob Lundberg

Box 6: Biological diversity increasinglyimportant in a changing climate

Biological diversity is the richness in variation with-in species, between species and o the ecosystems inthe landscape. Tis diversity provides us with every-thing rom ood a nd clothes to medicines and shelter.Tere is also a direct link between biological diversityand the long-term capacity o ecosystems to supplyecosystem services such as air and water purication,pollination o crops a nd protection against erosion.Between 20 and 30 % o all plant and animal spe-cies risk becoming extinct i the mean global tem-perature increases by 1.5 to 2.5 degrees, according tothe IPCC. Tis means that ecosystems will becomemore vulnerable and that their long-term ability todeal with changes in the climate and the environ-ment (their resilience) will decrease. Diversity is a lsothe oundation or plant and animal breeding andan insurance or the uture. We know that climateand the environment will in all probability changeat an increasing pace and it is thereore important tomaintain a diversity o plants and animals with di-erent environmental requirements that can perormthe same unctions under new conditions.


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Portrait 3: Abaddi Kelkay, armer

Abaddi was one o the innovative armers who took part inthe igray Project. He began building up his arm ve yearsago on land that by others was considered to be worthless.Over time, he has created an ingenious irrigation system

or his crops that includes irrigation dams and a system oirrigation channels. Te use o compost is another reasonbehind his success. For example, his maize yields are con-siderably higher than those o his neighbours. In addition,water ows all the year round thanks to the armers coop-erating to dam the water upstream and a llow it to inltratethe soil. Overall, this has led to Abaddi now having a sec-ond irrigated crop in t he spring (compared with the ormersingle rain-ed crop in the autumn). Intensive and prolongedwork to create ertile soil together with active managemento water resources has resulted in a doubling o his income.Now he and his wie are well able to eed the nine memberso their household.

Box 8: Resilience the ability of asystem to handle change

Resilience is the long-term capacity o a system todeal with change and continue to develop. For anecosystem such as a orest, this can involve dealingwith storms, res and pollution, while or a society itinvolves an ability to deal with political uncertaintyor natural disasters in a way that is sustainable in thelong-term. For an agricu ltural system, resilience in-

volves an ability to deal with every thing rom climatechange and pest attacks to changes in agriculturalpolicy.

Resilience thereore comprises the ability osystems to withstand stress and to restore essentialunctions aferwards. In the long term this requiresan ability to adapt and sel-renew.

Increased knowledge o how we can strengthenresilience in society and nature is becoming increas-ingly important in coping with the stresses caused byclimate change and other environmental impacts.

Reasons behind the wide genetic variationin the crop varieties grown in Ethiopia

Long arming tradition (~ 5000 years) which has prov-ided the opportunity or varietal dierences to developRapid and wide variations in climatic conditions, soiltexture and ecological conditions in mountainousregionsMany dierent ethnic groups with little mixing, allworking with dierent breeding and cropping methodsLimited industrial agriculture, little centralized plantbreeding

a) Abaddi, one of the so-called innovative farmers in the Tigray project, showing one of the channels in his irrigation system. Thanks tothis system, he can now get an extra irrigated harvest each year. b) Sesbania, a multifunctional tree, which provides both fodder, shade,

and improves soil fertility through biological nitrogen fixation. In this Sesbania, in the midst of Abaddis fields, weaver birds have built their

nest. Photo: Jakob Lundberg and Anneli Nordling


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4. Water management in alandscape perspective

ater is a basic essential or human lie and or the pursuit o arming. However, securingaccess to water is becoming an increasingly dicult challenge due to population growth,non-sustainable use o resources and a more unpredictable climate. In the igray Project,

the aim is to meet these challenges with a holistic approach that integrates improved water manage-ment, erosion control and soil improvement in a landscape perspective. Overall, the programme omeasures within the project to prevent soil erosion and improve water management has led to the res-toration o water fow in dried-up streams, rehabilitation o arable land and increased yields.

One o the greatest obstacles to reaching the MillenniumDevelopment Goal o halving the widespread malnutri-tion in the world by 2015 is the increasing lack o water. Te

decline in ows and groundwater reserves in irrigation-dependent regions is placing new emphasis on the role orain-ed agriculture, which has been shown to be importantin bridging dry periods and is thus a key strategy in adapta-tion to uture climate change.

In igray the rainy period occurs rom the end o Juneto the middle o September, and, as a rule, heavy rains allduring a relatively short time. On average around 500-700mm all in t he highlands, while eastern regions receive onlyaround 200 mm. In order to secure access to water and oodproduction in the region, there is a need to collect water in

various ways and save it or dry periods, a process known aswater harvesting.

Forest clearing to obtain uel and building materials,overgrazing and trampling, expansion o agricultural land

and in later years urbanisation have led to the disappear-ance o a la rge proportion o indigenous orest and cultivat-able land. In combination with this non-sustainable use o

resources, vital rainal l ironically poses a threat to the entirelandscape. During the rainy season, the lack o orest andother vegetation leads to severe soil erosion so that gulliesare ormed and cut through the landscape, washing awaythe ertile topsoil.

In order to counteract rapid losses o water and soil,the igray Project developed a toolbox o eective low-technology solutions. Local armers were then encouragedto choose the methods they thought were most relevant ortheir needs, an approach which led to a range o dierent so-lutions being put into use in dierent local communities. Bythen scaling up o the most successul experiences, an im-portant adaptation and learning process that was critical orthe success o the project, was initiated. Te solutions, whichwere all aimed at decreasing soil erosion and improving

Thanks to the Tigray projects success in restoring the landscape upstream, there is now water flow all year round in streams that were previously-dried-up over a large part of the year. Photo: Jakob Lundberg


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access to water in the catchment areas, work across severaldierent levels o scale, ranging rom small drip irrigationdevices with gourds to large-scale landscape managementwith ponds, dams and channels dug out and lined to holdharvested water. Trough working in an introductory phasewith innovative armers, who distinguished themselves bybeing particularly interested in testing and developing newwater harvesting and management methods, the techniques

were eectively transmitted in the area.Each group o armers sharing a common water source

also has a water guardian or ather, who acts as chair-man and helps the armers organize themselves or theuse o their shared water resource. Te ISD acts as acatalyst in this regard in supporting and promoting in-novator armers e.g. or the excavation o wells, and in-stallation o ponds and irrigation systems. Tis has re-sulted in increased access to water, while the protectiono the catchment areas has recharged aquiers and raisedthe groundwater levels. In a number o areas, springs,streams and rivers that had previously run dry or longperiods now contain water all year round. One result o thispositive development is that it is now possible to produce

an extra i rrigated spring crop as an important complementto the ormer single rain-ed autumn crop. Te other out-come is the increasing numbers o ruit trees being plantedby armers, particularly women. Te outcome o this andother measures (see box 9) is that armers in the project havemore than doubled their income, which has improved livingconditions dramatically as regards to both ood security andhousehold nances.

A subsequent step that many local armers are hoping oris to be able to process their agricultural produce and gainaccess to new markets, so that they can receive better pay-ments or their increased yields.

Portrait 4: Woldu and his wie Hawariya.From gully to diversity arming

Afer a period as a town dweller, Woldu recognised thatthere was no chance o him providing his amily with agood lie in the town. He was oered a piece o land in a

gully by the authorities and accepted it simply with the ideao keeping a ew animals there. During the rainy seasonthe soil along the slopes was previously washed away, butWoldu had seen how the armers in the neighbouring com-munity involved in the igray Project had managed to pre-

vent erosion in the gully on the other side o the hill and hedecided to do the same on his land. He began by buildingstone walls and ditches above his crop land as protectionagainst water erosion. He then transported soil using awheelbarrow and spade he received rom the ISD and waseventually able to rell the gully.

Tere is still a constant ongoing battle to preventall the soil being washed down the valley. Accordingto Woldu, the walls and ditches have to be repaired a-

ter every rainy season. oday the couple use no chemi-cal pesticides, but Hawariya makes her own biologi-cal crop protection mixture and herbal medicine toimprove their income. Woldu has also managed to dig asix-metre deep well by hand and this provides sucientwater or the household and the elds throughout the year.oday, afer 6-7 years o work, they grow e.g. oranges, limes,papaya, mulberry and bananas using seedlings rom thelocal plant nursery, which is supported by the ISD. Teiramily can live quite a good lie o the land. Woldu addsIm still amazed by what it [the area] became.

The farmer couple Hawariya Berihe and Woldu Gebrewahid: We had the worst soil and the least opportunity to succeed. We had to digseveral dams and wells before we found water. We have worked hard, but succeeded in the end! If we could make it, anyone can!

Photo: Jakob Lundberg


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he igray Project with its emphasis on sustainable development and ecological soil manage-

ment has resulted in a range o improvements or poor armers in general and or the poorestwomen-headed households in particular. A key actor behind the successes o the project is the

role o women. In the region, there is a disproportionately large number o amilies or whom singlemothers are the sole provider. Tis is a result o the many years o war in Ethiopia, in which largenumbers o men have lost their lives.

Being poor, emale and a armer brings a host o problems,e.g. because women by tradition are not allowed to ploughthe elds or work with pack animals. Tose women who nolonger have any male relative must seek the help o some oth-er man, ofen afer he has nished ploughing his own elds,so the women suer rom a delayed and shortened growing

period. Tis system is known as share cropping and in-volves part o the harvest going to the man who helped withthe ploughing. Te igray Project has thereore ocused onenhancing the position o women in the communities andhas specically encouraged them to pre-germinate in a plantnursery those crops that require a long growing season, orexample nger millet, sorghum and maize. Tese plants arethen transplanted outdoors when the rainy season begins, asopposed to sowing seeds directly in the eld, which wouldrequire a much longer growing period. Tis is a lso benecialrom another perspective: climate change has meant thatthe rainy season is becoming more unpredictable.

In addition to this support or single mothers, the proj-ect has also trained unemployed young women, providedseeds and seedlings or plant nurseries, arranged study trips

and promoted the use o simple technica l solutions such asoot pumps. By encouraging women to buy sheep, goats andcows or to begin beekeeping, the project is also contributingto making women sel-sucient and independent o theirmale neighbours. It has also emerged that women are ofenthe better credit holders, not least as regards microcredits,

which in recent years have been highlighted as a successulpath to economic and social development or the poor inrural areas in many parts o the developing world.

Tose responsible or the igray Project have also identi-ed a number o other diculties that single mothers canencounter. For example, these women have not the samestrength to dig wells as men, they have more diculties ingetting rid o porcupines (a major pest) and they do not havethe same market inormation as men because they work inthe home and take care o children, while men have morecontact with the outside world. Women are also restrictedin terms o transport since, according to tradition, pack ani-mals can only be loaded/unloaded by men.

Te women in the igray area have a more central rolethan the men as regards certain knowledge on, and protec-

5. Womens livelihood a key to success

Farmers in a meeting in Wkro. Photo: Hillevi Rundstrm


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Box 10: Role of women for the environment, agriculture and in combating poverty

Te poor women o the world play a key role in agriculture, resource management and maintenance o natural assets. In-ternational and national strategies or combating poverty, agricultural development and sustainable development shouldthereore be based on a gender-aware analysis. Te majority o the worlds 1.3 billion poorest people, who live on lessthan one American dollar per day, are women. Tese poor women ofen live in close proximity with and have extensiveknowledge o their surrounding ecosystem since t hey have the main responsibility or growing crops and etching uel,ood and other raw materials rom nature. Despite this, very ew women rom poor countries are included in an ocialcontext where strategies or resource management are discussed and where decisions are taken on resource allocation.

However, change is on the way. International negotiations on the environment, agriculture and development areocusing increasingly on the gender issue. More people are recognising that discrimination counteracts eorts to combatpoverty and achieve sustainable development. In 2003 the UN Committee on Sustainable Development decided thatequality should be taken into consideration in all areas by the year 2015, when the work o achieving the MillenniumDevelopment Goals should have realised its various objectives.

tion o, biological diversity. Tey ofen have the main re-sponsibility or preserving loca l varieties, crops and breeds.In igray, thousands o dierent varieties o barley, durumwheat, sorghum and te are grown. A number o geneticallydistinct variants o each crop are ofen grown on the sameeld. In other words, this is a living gene bank or whicharmers are important because they are custodians o thegenetic diversity and continuously adapt and improve the

a) Lychee fruits b) Yeshi, a farmer and widow, cultivates e.g. garlic, spices, fruit and teff. She has been helped by plants from the ISD. Shewants to continue to work on the farm, improve her drainage and irrigation, and plant more trees. c) A woman in Aksum.

Photo: Anneli Nordling

varieties through their selection o seed.Most armers in the world are actually poor women and

even though womens rights are mentioned as ar back as1992 in the Convention on Biological Diversity, much moremust be done to ensure that they are involved in decisionsconcerning the preservation, sustainable use and equitableallocation o the benets o biological diversity, e.g. ecosys-tem services.


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Portrait 5: Mama Yohannesu

Mama Yohannesu lives with one unmarried emale relative.She has a ruit orchard that she set up by hersel withoutany contact with the Institute or Sustainable Development(ISD). Previously she had problems with animals coming in

and destroying her plants, but now she has a little enced-o

a) Papaya flowers b) Mama Yohannesu in her orchard in the Adi Nefas. Photo: Anneli Nordling and Jakob Lundberg

orchard with a variety o plants. oday, a number o her plantscome rom the plant nursery set up by the ISD and she hasalso received help to make her well and encing rom the localauthority and the ISD. Mama Yohannesu mainly grows Cit-ron, a large type o citrus ruit that is believed to be good e.g.or the stomach and heart, which she can harvest throughoutthe year. Te orchard produces good yields and provides herwith sucient income to support hersel. She also produces

young plants by layering to sell and give to her neighbours.


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A workshop in Wkro with farmers to display how the management of their catchment area has dramatically improved the situation forcultivation, for example by reducing soil erosion. The availability of feed for animals has also improved and access to food has increased,

much thanks to the compost, which made the land fertile and reduced expenditure on fertilizers. Photo: Jakob Lundberg

6. Conclusions

ereisaneedforacomprehensivechangeofcoursewithinagricultureinordertoreachtheinternationaltargetsoneradicating poverty and decreasing hunger in a sustainable way. Future agriculture must be based more on biologicaldiversity and ecosystem services than on ossil uel.

eTigrayprojectinnorthernEthiopiaisasuccessfulexampleshowinghowfarmers,researchers,localadvisorsandagricultural experts can together devise a system based on local inputs, biological diversity and ecosystem services. Akey actor has been the active participation o armers, who were allowed to choose and adapt the dierent cultivationmethods to their local conditions.

eprojecthasproducedarangeofpositiveresultssuchashigheryields,highergroundwaterlevels,bettersoilfertil-ity, decreased susceptibility to drought, increased income and better opportunities or women to make a living.

eEthiopiangovernmenthasadoptedtheapproachusedintheTigrayprojecttopreventsoildestructionandcom-bat poverty in 165 dierent districts in the grain-producing regions o the country. A holistic approach that integratesimproved water management, control o erosion and soil improvement is now being used in a landscape perspective.

Climatechangealreadyposesagreatthreattoglobalfoodsecurity.LargepartsofAfricathatarealreadyseverelyaf-ected risk suering urt her hunger and malnutrition, according to the UN panel on Climate Change.

IncreasingamountsoffoodwillbeneededinAfricainthefuture,whiletheuseoffossilfuelwhichformsthebasiso todays intensive agriculture must be decreased due to climate change and rising oil prices.

Anappropriatelydesignedformofagriculturebasedonecosystemservicescandecreasetheneedforfossilfuelsandalso decrease the vulnerability to climate change.

epoorwomenoftheworldplayakeyroleinagriculture,resourcemanagementandconservationofvariousnaturalresources.


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7. Recommendations

Internationalaid,researchandeducationmustbedirectedmoretowardsdecreasingagriculturesnetemissionsofgreenhouse gases and adapting arming systems so that they can cope with uture climate change.

Nationalstrategiesforagriculturaldevelopmentandcombatingpovertymustfocusmoreonsupportforsmallfarm-ers and projects to develop arming systems based on ecosystem services.

Dierentsystemsforcompensatingfarmersforproductionofecosystemservicesshouldbeinvestigatedanddevel-oped, so that these are o greater benet to poor armers in developing countries.

Supportwithintheagriculturalsectorshouldbedirectedmoretowardsspreadingriskandimprovingadaptivecapac-ity. Tis can be achieved by promoting diversity-based agriculture t hat uses local variet ies, crops and breeds withcharacteristics such as tolerance to drought and heat and by promoting a d iversity o cultivation systems.

Internationalandnationalstrategiesforcombatingpoverty,agriculturaldevelopmentandsustainabledevelopmentmust increasingly be based on a gender-aware analysis.

Supportforfarmingorganisationsandvoluntaryorganisationswithintheenvironmental,agriculturalandfoodsectorsmust be intensied, particularly with regard to policy development, cooperation, networking and armer eld schools.

Specicsupportmustbeprovidedtohelppoorsmallfarmersselltheirsurplusesandprocesstheirproducts,sothatthey are able to access the market more easily.

Moresupportshouldbegiventolocaladvisorycentres,developmentprojectsanddemonstrationactivitieswithintheareas o organic production, small-scale ood processing and environmental technology.

euseofraininrain-fedagriculturemustbeimprovedthroughinvestmentinsmall-scalesystemsforcollectionandstorage o rainwater (water harvesting).

Morefundingshouldbeprovidedforresearchintoecosystemservices,resilienceandsustainableproductionmethodsin agriculture. Cross-disciplinary and participatory research should be particula rly supported.

a) Finger millet is an important crop in Tigray. b) Young woman in Tigray. Photo: Anneli Nordling and Jakob Lundberg


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Box 11: Nine positive results from the Tigray Project

1. Increased productivity and increased yields2. Decreased susceptibility to drought, pests and ooding3. Decreased dependence on the use o ossil uel4. Higher groundwater levels5. Increased soil ertility and soil more resilient to erosion6. Rehabilitation o damaged land

7. Increased income8. Improved livelihood opportunities or women9. Increased biological diversity and promoted production o ecosystem services

8. Sources and urther reading

Abera, F.A. 2007. Diversity, adaptation and G x E interaction o barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) varieties in Northern Ethiopia.PhD-thesis, Te Norwegian University o Lie Sciences (UMB) in s, Norway.

Araya, H. and Edwards, S. 2006. Te igray experience. A success story in sustainable agriculture, Environment and Devel-opment Series, no. 4, Te Tird World Network, Penang.

Climate Change 2007, the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) o the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange (IPCC): www.ipcc.ch/

Falkenmark, M. and Rockstrm, J. 2005. Rain: Te Neglected Resource. Swedish Water House Policy Brie Nr. 2:http://www.swedishwaterhouse.se

Henrysson, J. and Hk, K. 2007. Food, climate and development. Report, Swedish Society or Nature Conservation.

Mder, P., Fliessbach, A.,Dubois D., Gunst L., Fried P. and Niggli, U. 2002. Soil Fertility a nd Biodiversity in Organic Farm-ing. Science Vol 296: 1592-1597.

Synthesis Report o the International Assessment o Agricultural Knowledge, Science and echnology or Development(IAASD), 2008: http://www.agassessment.org/

Te Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Reports: http://www.maweb.org/

Te State o Food and Agriculture 2007 - Paying Farmers or Environmental Services, FAO: http://www.ao.org/docrep/010/a1200e/a1200e00.htm.

Water or Food, Water or Lie: A Comprehensive Assessment o Water Management in Agriculture. 2007. London: Earths-can, and Colombo: International Water Management Institute: http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/assessment/index.htm

World Development Report 2008: Agriculture or Development, the World Bank: http://go.worldbank.org/ZJIAOSUFU0


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Tis report is based around agriculture in igray, northern Ethiopia. Te area has long hadsevere problems with soil erosion and recurring periods o drought, but armers in a num-ber o villages have succeeded in reversing the negative trend towards one o increasing yieldsand better living conditions. Te local population in the villages have developed new irrigationmethods, prevented erosion and have begun to use compost. Tese new methods have been de-veloped in collaboration with local authorities, universities and the environmental organisationISD (Institute or Sustainable Development). oday armers in the area are practising a orm oagriculture which in many ways makes use o the ecosystem services that exist in the area andwhich contributes to conserving these services. Te methods are now being implemented inseveral other regions throughout the country.

Te Swedish Society or Nature Conservation is collaborating with ISD. We have established

an exchange o inormation between our organisations and are working together or sustain-able agriculture. Te Swedish Society or Nature Conservation also provides nancial supportto ISD. In addition, the Swedish Society or Nature Conservation is collaborating with manyother arming organisations in the developing world and with organisations working on is-sues concerning orests, coasts and seas, climate, chemicals, trade and ood security. In total,the Swedish Society or Nature Conservation is working with around 60 organisations in over20 dierent countries. Te work is largely unded by Sida (Swedish International DevelopmentCooperation Agency).

Naturskyddsreningen. Box 4625, 116 91 Stockholm, Sweden

Phone + 46 8 702 65 00. [email protected]

The Swedish Society or Nature Conservation is an environmentalorganisation with power to bring about change. We spread know-ledge, map environmental threats, create solutions, and infuencepoliticians and public authorities, at both national and internationallevels. Moreover, we are behind one o the worlds most challengingecolabellings,Bra Miljval(Good Environmental Choice).

Climate, the oceans, orests, environmental toxins, andagriculture are our main areas o involvement.

www.naturskyddsoreningen.se

ecological in ethiopia

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