Dry land management
There are traditional techniques and traditional forms of social organization, which have kept their value and proven their use in sustaining the livelihood of farmers and nomads in dry areas. Local populations have lived for many generations in these dry areas and have thereby accumulated a deep knowledge of local resources and how they can be used for survival.
However, this knowledge, which is often reflected in the culture of local tribes, threatens to become lost. In this issue of the ILEIA newsletter we want to stress the importance of indigenous knowledge. In close collaboration with the local population, projects should use this knowledge as the base for new concepts of sustainable development
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1 - 3written by ILEIA editorial teamThere are traditional techniques and traditional forms of social organization, which have kept their value and proven their use in sustaining the livelihood of farmers and nomads in dry areas. Local populations have lived for many generations in these dry areas and have thereby accumulated a deep knowledge of local resources and how they can be used for survival. However, this knowledge, which is often reflected in the culture of local tribes, threatens to become lost. In this issue of the ILEIA newsletter we want to stress the importance of indigenous knowledge. In close collaboration with the local population, projects should use this knowledge as the base for new concepts of sustainable development
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4 - 6written by Coen ReijntjesThe Centre for Development Cooperation Services of the Free University Amsterdam recently made, at the request of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), an evaluation of experiences in the field of soil and water conservation in sub-Saharan Africa. They arrived at the conclusion that most projects carried out since colonial times more or less failed to reduce soil loss and increase yields. Drs. Chris Reij, who is working for the Centre, participated in this evaluation. ILEIA asked him for the reasons for these failures and what criteria projects have to meet to make water and soil conservation more effective.
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7 - 7written by Coen ReijntjesWater harvesting as a traditional but recently improved strategy to make agricultural production in dry areas more reliable is becoming, especially after the recent drought period in the Sahel, more and more a topic of interest. From different traditional agricultural societies in dry areas very successful examples of water harvesting are known. Still the results of recent water harvesting experiences in different development projects are not always positive. ILEIA tried to find which constraints and possibilities water harvesting really has for nowadays agriculture in dry areas.
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8 - 9written by ILEIA editorial teamIn Tunisia, from the XIIIth till the XVIth century, agricultural development flourished by the introduction of Arabian-Persian and Andalusian agricultural knowledge. It was also in that time that traditional runoff farming systems were developed, which partly still exist at the present time. Natural conditions of the country such as topography, geological formation, climate, history and social organisation of the rural population were determining factors in this process of development.
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10 - 11Water harvesting for crop production is far more widely used than of ten perceived. In semi-arid regions of countries like Tunisia, Morocco, Israel, Yemen, and India impressive structures of ancient and still functioning water harvesting systems can be found. But also in African countries south of the Sahara, water harvesting techniques are used by farmers. They are, however, less spectacular and therefore of ten overseen by development workers. Inspired by the water harvesting systems of Tunisia, India, and Israel, and realising the importance of such systems for semi-arid regions, several development organisations initiated water harvesting projects in African countries south of the Sahara. Although some technically promising results have been obtained, there are still many constraints. Nomads and farmers who should benefit from these projects generally do not accept the recommended techniques if these are alien to their own experiences or culture. In this article the different water harvesting techniques for crop production utilised in the Baringo pilot Semi-Arid Area Project (BPSAAP) in Kenya is looked at as an example.
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12 - 13Generally it is not possible to transplant techniques developed in a certain region during a long process of experience to another region with different circumstances without making certain adaptations. It is obvious that in Baringo, Kenya conditions of climate, soils and human setting are all different from those in, for example, Tunisia. All these factors, however, influence the possibilities of the use of water harvesting techniques. In this article these different factors are analyzed to get a better idea of the constraints and possibilities of water harvesting.
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14 - 15written by Gert de GansThis article describes same aspects of traditional adaptive strategies among Turkana nomadic pastoralists of north-western Kenya. Through their devices, these herders have been able to cape with their harsh and unpredictable environment and to overcome the consequences of natural disasters. However, since the colonial intervention, the traditional system and way of life have been interfered with increasingly. A process of fragmentary modernization threatens the viability of the pastoral strategies and makes the livestock owners more vulnerable for calamities like droughts. This article suggests that livestock development interventions must be based on indigenous knowledge systems and on the special skills of these pastoralists to survive in their surroundings. Finally, same experiences and lessons from the author's own 8 years work within the Turkana communities are described.
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16 - 17written by Hans CarlierIn this newsletter we cannot describe the agricultural problems of the semi-arid regions without mentioning the people who know the art of survival in these ecologically and economically marginal areas. Before me lies a huge book of 840 pages named "Pastoral development in Central Niger" by Jeremy Swift and Angelo Maliki. It describes a development project, the Niger Range and Livestock Project, made for 219,000 people, mainly Twaregs and WoDaaBe nomadic herders, pastoral FulBe and Tamasheq-speaking agropastoralists. Together with Hawsa farmers, they live in a 81,500-km2 project area in the centre of Niger. The project was formulated after the terrible drought of the early 1970's by the government of Niger and the United States' USAID.
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18 - 20Review of some of the letters received by the editors; information on a few field projects. Review of \"Natural crop protection\", by Gaby Stoll, and \"Understanding traditional agriculture\", by Hans Carlier.
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