looking after our land: soil and water conservation in dry land africa

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Looking After Our LandSoil and Water Conservation in Dryland

Africa

Will Critchleyedited by Olivia Graham


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LOOKING AFTER OUR LAND:Soil and W ate r Conservation in Dryland Africa

by Will CritchleyEdited by Olivia Graham

Published by Oxfam on behalf of the Arid Lands Information Ne two rk andthe International Institute for Environment and Development

Oxfam274 Banbury RoadOxfo rd OX 2 7D Z

UK

First published 1991

British Library Cataloguing in P ublication D ata

A CIP catalogue record f or this book is available fro m th e British Library.

ISBN 0 85598 170 9

Extracts may be freely reproduced by the press or by n on-profit organisations with acknowled gemen t

All photographs are by Wil l C ritchley unless otherwise cred ited.

AU N/IIED wo uld like to express their sincere thanks tothe donors wh o funded this publication and its accompanying video.

CO M IC RELIEFEDW ARD CADBURY CHARITABLE TRUST

OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT A DM INISTR ATIONOXFAM

SWEDISH RED CROSS

Project Steering Co mm ittee:Will Critchley

Ced HesseOlivia Graham

Katharine M c CulloughCamilla Tou lmin

Designed by Bob Prescott Design AssociatesPrinted by Oxfam Print Unit

Illustrations by Timothy Critchley

Both this boo k and the accompanying video are available in English and French and can be obtained through

Oxfam country offices as well as direct from:

Oxfam Publications, 274, Banbury Road, Ox for d O X 2 7 DZ , U.K.

Drylands Programme, IIED, 3 Endsleigh Street Lo ndon W C I H O D D , U.K.

ALIN/RTTA, Casier Postal 3, Dakar-Fann, Senegal.This book converted to digital file in 2010


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INTRODUCTION

PART ONE: OVERVIEW -LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE

I. New Approaches to Old Problems

Soil Conservation Projects - Why So Many Failures? 4The Growing Need fo r Effective Conservation Programmes 4New Approaches - Some Success at Last 5A Word of Caution 5An Introductionto the Case Studies 62 The LessonsParticipation 8Suitable Systems 9Training and Motivation 10Using Existing Groups and Institutions 11Flexibility 12Basing Techniques on Traditiona l Systems 13Village Land Use Management 14Collaboration between Institutions 15Incentives 15Mechanisation 15Life of the Project 16Monitoring and Evaluation 16Rapid Benefits fo r Farmers 16Reaching the Poorest 173 Planning a Soil and W a te r Conservation Project

Questions to Ask and Things to Remember 18

PART T W O : CASE STUDIES

Burkina Faso 24Projet-Agroforestier (PAF)- Yatenga Province 25PATECORE - Bam Province 32Kenya 38The National Soil and Water Conservation Project (NSWCP) -

Machakos District 39

The Lokrtaung Pastoral Developm ent Project (LPDP) -Turicana District 46

Mali 52Traditional Soil and Water Conservation - Dogon Plateau 53Projet Lutte Ant-Erosive (PLAE)- Koutiala 59

PART THREE: TEC HN ICAL SECTION

Burkina Faso 68Kenya 72

Mali 76Bibliography 82Acknowledgments 84


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FIGURES FORTEC HN ICA L SECTION

Fig I: Contour Stone Bunds

Fig 2: Construction of Stone Bunds

Fig 3: Zai

Fig 4: Compost Pit

Fig 5: Permeable Rock Dams

Fig 6: Construction of Permeable Rock Dam

Fig 7: Use o f W a te r Tube Level

Fig 8: Construction o f Fanya-Juu TerraceFig 9: Development o f Fanya-Juu Terraces

Fig 10: Fanya-Juu Terraces

Fig 11: Contour Ploughing

Fig 12: Rainwater Harvesting Garden

Fig 13: Use of Line Level

Fig 14: Stone Lines

Fig 15: Earth Mo und sFig 16: On ion Gardens made from T ranspo rted Earth

Fig 17: Earth Basins

Fig 18: Profile o f Typical Catchment

Fig 19: A Flannelgraph - part of the "G R AA P" M eth od

Fig 2 0: Grass Strips

Fig 21 : Live Fences

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INTRODUCTION

"Desertification" is not the creation of a desert - or very rarely! It is a processof resource degradation. Helping people to acquire the tools, knowledge andconfidence they need to reverse this process is one of the major challenges facingdevelopment workers in arid and semi-arid Africa.

Soil conservation projects in sub-Saharan Africa have had a troubled record overthe past 30 years or so, and their failure has had extremely serious consequences,especially for those people living in the dryland areas.

Two main factors have contributed to the failure of these projects. First, formarginal farmers, the idea of "preventing future loss of soil" is irrelevent to presentneeds, and se cond, th e farmers themselves have, in the p ast, simply not been con-sulted about their knowledge and understanding of the processes of erosion. Bothtraditional technology and social organisation have usually been ignored, and solu-tions have been imposed from above. This has led to such "solutions", even wherethey show some technical merit, never being taken up with enthusiasm by localcommunities and fading into oblivion when the project itself finishes.

However, in the last decade a number of interesting developments have takenplace. With the help of a handful of projects, people across Africa have demonstra-ted that they are motivated, competent and capable of taking charge of their envi-ronment and its protection. There is strong and growing evidence that when localcommunities are sufficiently involved in planning and implemention, these soiland water conservation activities can be, and are sustained beyond the life of theinitiating p roject.

In late 1989, the Arid Lands Information Network based at Oxfam and the DrylandsProgram me at IIED sha red their growing conc ern at the very small am ount

of resource material on soil and water conservation being produced by andfor development workers at project level despite the great demand for releventinformation. ALIN and IIED dec ided to collab orate on the production of a video withaccompanying notes to try to fill the gap. The 'accompanying notes' turned into abook... and here it is.

This book is about the main lessons to be learnt from new approaches to soil andwater conservation in sub-Saharan Africa. It presents six case studies, two eachfrom Burkina Faso, Kenya and Mali, where soil and water conservation, based onthe participation of the local people, has resulted in som e succ ess. The book bringsout the essential ingredients of a successful soil and water conservation projectand provides a set of questions which should be asked before embarking on such a

programme - not a fixed list of steps to take, but some important points to remem-ber.

The fieldwork for the book was carried out during 1990, and descriptions of projectwork and progress therefore obviously relate to the projects at th at stag e.

It is written expressly for development workers in arid and semi-arid Africa, onwhose experience it is based. Together with the accompanying video (90 mins) it issuitable for use in workshops or discussion groups as well as being of more generalinterest to a w ider audience concerned with environmental issues. It also stands onits own as a useful reference too l.


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PART

O N E

Learningfrom

Experience

looking after our land: soil and water conservation in dry land africa

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