Caring for our land

Table of contents:

• Caring for our land - Editorial
  4 - 5
  written by ILEIA editorial team
  Until now, ILEIA has looked mainly at questions of agricultural sustainability at the level of plots or farms. However, to maintain such sustainability and for their survival in general, many farmers depend on resources beyond their farm. This issue looks at the wider landscape of which individual farms are a part: how rural communities organise the use of natural resources in their territory to ensure that they can continue to live from the land.
• The Aynokas: sustaining agriculture
  6 - 8
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  written by Stephan Rist
  The Andes region is one of the zones with the highest ecological diversity in the whole world. This diversity also exists at watershed level, which means that frequently very distinct agroecological zones can be found within the limits of a single community.
• Revival of customary landcare
  9 - 9
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  written by Wendelin Mlenge
  A forest officer in Tanzania shows that traditional institutions able to regulate landuse can be revived by "insiders" through participatory action research. These institutions can be re-empowered it policymakers recognise customary rights and accept diversity.
• Bringing back the balance: alternative economics for the Colombian Amazon
  10 - 11
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  written by Peter Bunyard
  Market economy systems, often in the name of "development", have caused serious damage to the rainforest, not only destroying the resource basis for a sustainable livelihood for forest people, but undermining traditional economies of reciprocity and exchange. However, recent governments in Colombia have set about encouraging traditional use of the land by indigenous peoples, not least in its share of the Amazon Basin.
• Improving land care in West Africa
  12 - 13
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  written by Leo Stroosnijder
  As author of numerous studies on agricultural improvement in semiarid areas, Leo Stroosnijder highlights various important issues here. Limitations of space do not allow detailed analysis of these issues, but his statements should stimulate further discussion.
• Grazing options to intensify land use
  14 - 15
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  written by Matthew Turner
  Farmers' practices in managing livestock and crops vary greatly. Matthew Turner stresses the importance of analysing this variability to see what opportunities these practices provide for maintaining soil fertility and intensifying land use.
• Livestock and nutrient cycling report on an international conference
  16 - 16
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  written by Mark Powell
  Researchers in both natural and social sciences met in Addis Ababa to examine the role of livestock in nutrient cycling in sub-Saharan Africa. This report by the conference organiser Mark Powel/ indicates the strategies they have chosen to support farmers and policymakers in developing more sustainable food production systems.
• Local institutions and para-professionals in watershed management
  17 - 19
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  written by Parmesh Shah
  The Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) is an NGO working with a participatory approach to promote watershed management. They work with village communities in three districts of Gujarat, India. Parmesh Shah explains how the approach of AKRSP is based on formation of village institutions and development of indigenous extension systems.
• Planning by Doing
  20 - 21
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  written by Pauline Brombacher , RDP Yadav , Natasha van Dijk
  Watershed management planning generally means that first a plan has to be finalised before implementation can start. This article from Nepal presents a different approach, where planning and implementation go hand in hand according to a "plan-and-implement" step-by-step approach. In fact, the plan is in full operation by the time it is finalised.
• The Siwaa experience: Village land management in southern Mali
  22 - 23
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  written by Rita Joldersma , Negueba Fané
  In 1989, villagers of Kaniko and Try in Southern Mali complained that many "outsiders", often town- based users of their village wood reserves and grazing lands, also benefited from erosion control measures the villagers were carrying out. This led to the initiation, together with tour other villages, of an innovative "Village Land Management" programme in a zone they baptised Siwaa or Dry Bush.
• Landcare in Australia
  24 - 29
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  written by Andrew Campbell
  In Australia, a grassroots revolution called "landcare" has turned land conservation extension on its head. More than 2000 voluntary landcare groups involving about one third of Australian farm families are working to develop more sustainable systems of land use. They are supported by a national 10-year funding programme, based on a proposal developed by the National Farmers’ Federation and the Australian Conservation Foundation in 1989. Andrew Campbell reports on a diversity of groups and activities to counter ecological, social and economic stress in a tremendous diversity of environments.
• New technology for peanuts
  30 - 30
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  written by Mansour Fall
  In Volume 9, issue 3, "After the harvest", Barbara Boni wrote how women in Mali developed an improved press for palm oil. In this article, Mansour Fall tells his story of improving a press for peanuts.
• Indigenous vegetables challenge to researcher, extensionist and consumer
  31 - 32
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  written by Elijah Mwashayenyi
  Indigenous green leafy vegetables play a big role in the diet of many people in Zimbabwe despite considerable consumption of exotic vegetables. Some of them are very good sources of vitamins, proteins and minerals. They are adapted to their environments especially in relation to temperature, moisture and soil fertility. Some are drought tolerant, many are fast growing or can be harvested early. The leaf production is often extensive and the vegetables can be harvested at any time.