Women user group members harvest and carry their share to the market (Tena Alamirew)
Aims / objectives: Zero grazing aims to reduce the impact of livestock management on land degradation. The objectives are: 1) implement cut and carry grazing system by establishing user groups for equitable share of biomass, 2) increase forage quantity and quality by improving the fodder and grass biomass production per unit area, 3) Protect further soil degradation and vegetation loss
Methods: Cut and carry employs series discussion with community to identify zero grazing sites and set bylaws to implement the approach. The watershed committee together with Development Agents and Kebele administration consult the community to identify and decide on the right beneficiaries of benefits gained from closed communal areas. Once the community agrees on the bylaws, the Kebele unit council approved and passed to district court for endorsement. The watershed committee, now renamed as Watershed Users Association, is the legitimate body authorized to regulate watershed management and benefit sharing among entitled users. The money collected from penalty fee from those who violate the rules use as a revolving fund to be used for other watershed development activities. The beneficiaries organize themselves into groups and they divided the benefits on equaitable basis at every harvest season. The users keep their animals around homes or sheds and feed them on harvested fodder/grass.
Stages of implementation: 1. Consultation and discussion with community in order to identify areas free from livestock access, formulate bylaws, control free grazing, and protect the developed watersheds from livestock interference,
2. Identification and organization of right beneficiaries into user groups who actually used to benefit previously on the selected area and new users that are believed to share the benefit,
3. Undertaking treatment of area closures with biological, structural and land use management measures as well as planting bunds on crop lands with fodder and grass species,
4. Watershed Committee start to implement or enforce the agreed bylaws on those who violate the rules (allow livestock in the protected areas, harvest biomass or cut tree from closed areas by untitled users, etc.),
5. Utilization of the biomass by user group members through equal share of the harvested biomass.
Role of stakeholders: Community: The community was responsible to select closed areas from livestock interference, identify beneficiaries, harvest and utilize the biomass as per the agreement, and respect and comply with the rules/bylaws;
Development agents: Supported the watershed committee in regulating protected areas, provide technical advice in the implementing integrated watershed interventions and subsequent maintenance activities or operations, and provide awareness creation and training about fodder utilization;
Watershed committee/watershed users association: It played the key role in planning, managing the developed watershed and regulate the benefit utilization arrangements. It applies the rules for those who do not comply with;
Kebele administration: The administration was responsible to control and manage the overall activities and supervise the implementation
Command post: Both the district and kebele command post (adhoc committee) is responsible to supervise the activities and solve problems;
Research: research involved to take part in introducing improved technologies that increase biomass production (like improved species with high quality and biomass) and efficiency (harvesting and packaging implements);
Project/WLRC: Provided material and technical support for the planning, implementation and monitoring activities.
Other important information: Cut and carry grazing system is an important intervention in the Ethiopian farming system where livestock and crop farming are mixed and livestock husbandry is means of crop production and household asset. Livestock farming is a subsistence production, which is not yet commercialized.
Lugar: Bahir Dar Zuria, Mecha, Yilmna Densa, Dessie Zuria, Amhara National Regional State, Etiopía
Dato de inicio: 2011
Año de conclusión: n.d.
Tipo de Enfoque
| ¿Qué partes interesadas/ entidades implementadoras estuvieron involucradas en el Enfoque? | Especifique las partes interesadas | Describa los roles de las partes interesadas |
| usuarios locales de tierras/ comunidades locales | The watershed Users Association, kebele administration and development agents | Individual land users has to play role to control free grazing and practice zero grazing. The closed areas are owned in group and need to protect and control in group. The role of men was mainly dedicated to control free grazing activities and involved in harvesting forage. Women were involved in the plantation of vegetative measures, in bunds and area closures, they took care of animals around their homestead, sometimes they transported forage/biomass for livestock. The approach entitled those who do not own animals to share the biomass collected from communal closed areas. They earned cash by selling the biomass harvest for forage purpose. |
| especialistas MST/consejeros agrícolas | They are involved in the planning, support and supervision of the implementation, monitoring and evaluating the implementation | |
| gobierno local | The district agriculture office | |
| gobierno nacional (planificadores, autoridades) | Decision makers | They play role to enforce the rules and mobilize the community to control free grazing |
The district office of agriculture together with its Kebele unit is the supervisory body for implementing cut and carry or zero grazing approach. The main implementers are the kebele administration, the watershed users' association and development agents. The Watershed Users' Association (WUA) or sometimes called watershed committee is the implementer of the daily activities or operations to manage and regulate developed watersheds and specifically zero grazing approach by enforcing the agreed bylaws. The Kebele administration unit support and manage administrative matters associated to zero grazing while the development agents assist the WUA and user groups on technical issues. User groups and land users are part of the implementation of the processes.
Las decisiones fueron tomadas por
La toma de decisiones se basa en
Magnitude and extent of land degradation and the impact of livestock pressure on depletion of natural resources. The community was advised to reduce livestock number and to rely on small number of improved breeds supplemented with intensive forage production and treated crop residues. Development staff was involved in trainings about forage production and management. Leaders also took part in trainings and awareness workshops about land degradation and natural resources conservation.
The research support is most of the time in form of on-farm research. Research is part of the approach. The research provides technical backstopping by introducing improved agricultural technologies like improved forage species and breeds that complement the SLM technologies where the approach is designed for.
Research was carried out on-farm
Hand tools for construction
Tree seedlings and grasses
El trabajo de los usuarios de las tierras fue
The approach aim to rehabilitate unproductive and degraded lands and thereby the soil moisture and biomass productivity improve. It also helps to increase the level of awareness to protect and manage communal resources and share of benefits out of it. It also gradually increases the ecosystem services such as increase the duration of flow of streams, increase stream flow and water availability, improve the diversity of plant species, and improve the micro-climatic conditions.
Land users who do not have animals also share the benefit equally with the land users who own animals. Thus, they improve their situation by selling grass biomass for feed. Others also employed to prepare and raise tree and grass seedlings in nurseries.
Forage biomass production and improved forage development were parts of the SLM technologies help to reduce the feed shortage problem. The approach is thus help to improve feed shortage by producing alternative fodder production strategies on bunds, gullies, area closures and backyards while controlling free grazing by implementing community agreed bylaws and setting entitlement to group use rights.
The cut and carry system is gradually expanded to adjacent watersheds and villages after sharing experiences during field days. Land users become aware of the benefits of cut and carry system on livestock production and health. Experts and leaders from other districts visited the approach and plan to expand to their areas.
It can be sustained if adequate technology supply, effective capacity development, and regulatory systems become effective. Additional efforts on increasing the technical skill of farmers and especially for members of Watershed Users Association on regulatory practices by employing continuous awareness creation, training and demonstration activities.
