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GROUP 4 Presentation On Open Grazing and Collective Action By-Laws: Current Status, Gaps and Suggestions for Improvement. Chaired by Ato Betru Reporter-- Desta Gebremichael. Is Open grazing an issue in the country?. YES Because open grazing is a challenge for Sustainable land management,
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GROUP 4 PresentationOn Open Grazing and Collective Action By-Laws: Current Status, Gaps and Suggestions for Improvement Chaired by AtoBetru Reporter--DestaGebremichael
Is Open grazing an issue in the country? • YES • Because open grazing is a challenge for • Sustainable land management, • Biodiversity, • Climate change resiliency, • and so
Problems Related to Open Grazing • Unsustainable NRM (SWC and Reforestation) • Destruction of SWC structures and Out Planted seedlings • Forced to continues maintenance and replanting • Destroy Biodiversity due to increasing destocking rate (Above Carrying Capacity) • Aggravate soil erosion and soil moisture stress, and poor soil fertility and poor vegetation cover that result in land degradation • Low grass production • Expansion of invasive weed species in pastoral areas
Problems Related to Open Grazing Cont’d • Wetland Degradation • Dryness of the wet grazing lands • disappearance of grass species • Energy Loss (weight loss) of the livestock while they are walking for grazing • Emphasis on quantity of livestock rather than on quality in terms of productivity as well as market value
Collective Actions • Area enclosures • Hillside enclosures (communal land Enclosures) • Farmland enclosures (Some experiences) • Hillside enclosures are successful almost throughout the country although there have been still some constraints in governance, community ownership and sustainability. • Farmland enclosure has not yet well adopted by all regions and weredas except good experiences in Adama and some experiences in Tigray
Actions for Sustainable Area enclosures ---Adama Experiences initiated by AtoBetru • Targeting some model farmers and spots of land (Less than 2ha) • Community Empowerment---Training and Exposure visit for farmers and Das • Participatory monitoring and evaluation • Close follow up and Commitment of the experts and the target farmers • Implementation of quality and acceptable technologies Like SWC bunds, hand dug wells, underground tanker
Adama Experiences– Cont’d • Learning of farmers from the outcomes of the project • Enhance crop production • Reduce crop failure • Increase grass production • Enhance soil fertility • Increase number of water sources and discharge of water springs, ground water wells, and rivers • Emerging new plants and wild animals • Create Trust by the community
Governance of Area enclosures • Good governance and equity in managing the enclosures and resource utilization • Community should own and manage the enclosures by establishing by-laws • Does by-law alone effective in managing the common resources like area enclosures? No! • Defaulters that violet the by-law- using their power in the village or others • The community, the Das and the local experts should be aware of the policy, the law and courts.
Governance of Area enclosures– Cont’d • Should have effective by-law • The local as well as wereda courts should mainstream and consider this by-law to the members of the community within the target village • Establishment of the by-lay draft should be commented and mainstream with the policy and law of the country.
Options for Scaling out of the farmland enclosures at country level • Applying the good experiences in Adama, in Amhara and in Tigray • Adopting the Zero grazing experiences of Harergie Zones • Planting perennial crops at farmland (Fruit, chat, forage trees, etc • Community Empowerment and ownership • Develop alternative availability of livestock feed • Creating business/market oriented farmers • Livestock fattening • Dairy development • Income diversification of farmers • Need some incentives for Risk Reduction Activities
Options for Scaling out of the farmland enclosures at country level---Cont’d • Suitable policy should be designed for sustainable natural resource management • Need gradual application of Zero grazing rather than enclosing all areas at ones without empowering the community • Should have clear and national and/or regional law supported community by-law for managing the common resources • Need to introduce improved plough technologies, like min-tractor, to the farmers to reduce dependency on oxen.