Managing Livestock to Secure Sustainable Use of Natural Resources: An Experience of the SLMP in Amhara Region, Ethiopia

By Zewdu Wuletaw, Haileyesus Abate and Tibebeu Adane, Amhara Regional Office, German Development Cooperation – Sustainable Land Management (GIZ-SLM) Programme

Recognising the severity of land degradation, Ethiopian Government has come up with a strategic framework,

ESIF that resulted in SLMP, aiming at the removal of critical barriers for scaling up best SLM practices.

In the course of SLMP implementation, Amhara region has put maximum efforts to address socio-economic

factors of land degradation through:

The establishment of watershed users associations and

The introduction of controlled grazing.

Adopting controlled grazing through organised communities has a tremendous benefits not only for the natural

resource conservation efforts but also critical for the overall productivity of the farming system. Therefore, in

areas where free grazing is a challenge any intervention designed for SLM has to consider these two strategic

approaches.

Causes of land degradation in Ethiopia are

complex and diverse where the socio-

economic factors such as overgrazing and

lack of appropriate local community

organisations are critical.

Out of 57 million of cattle it is only 25%

which graze in the low land and the

remaining 75% graze on the high land areas

leading to serious overgrazing in areas

already under high agrarian pressure.

In the highlands, the expansion of grazing

beyond the land’s carrying capacity, up to

70 TLU per ha, occurs at the expense of the

remaining natural vegetation.

The removal of crop residues for feed and

use of cattle dung for fuel resulted in loss of

soil organic matter and nutrients. This

breach in the soil nutrient cycle, seriously

depletes soil quality, increases erosion, and

eventually reduces soil productivity.

Overgrazing is considered to be the major

cause of soil degradation worldwide,

accounting for 35.8% of all forms of

degradation and 49.2% in Africa (Oldemann

et al., 1999).

Another important determinant for land

degradation is the lack of appropriate local

institute which is responsible for the

protection, development and sustainably

utilisation of natural resources. Natural

resources are the wealth of communities;

hence needs to be protected, developed

and sustainably utilised by locally organised

community associations.

1. Introduction 2. Addressing the Key Socio-economic Factors of Land Degradation

‘Watershed Users Associations’ Proclamation

Enacted in 2013, the proclamation offers legal protection for the by-laws developed by the communities’ associations which have the objective of is halting of free grazing.

Caption 1: Photos showing the proclamation to support community organisation legalization process.

3. Results

4. Conclusion

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH Sustainable Land Management Programme (GIZ-SLM) - Amhara Regional Office

ACSI Building, T +251 582 201 729 P.O. Box 1072/Code 73, F +251 582 201 779 Bahir Dar, Ethiopia I www.giz.de/ethiopia

Caption 2: Farm land excluded from livestock interference (top), & crop grown on the then ‘acidic’ soil (bottom 2)

Data gathered from selected watersheds through interview, focus group discussions and field level observations revealed that communities which are organized with approved by-laws and adopted controlled grazing management systems enjoyed multiple benefits.

Figure 2: Crop Productivity in ‘Acidic’ Soils Before and After Controlled Grazing Figure 3: Milk Production & Reproductive Performance of Cattle Before and After Controlled Grazing

Figure 4: Number of Animals per HH Before & After Controlled Grazing

In

cre

as

ed

Community empowerment

Equity in resource sharing

Water availability

Destocking

Gender sensitivity

Crop & livestock productivity

Cost effectiveness

Sustainability

Land rehabilitation

Months