Sustainable Land Management - SLM

projekt beendet

ObjectiveThe programme is part of a nationwide strategy for sustainable land management, the Sustainable Land Management Program (SLMP). Its objectives are to reduce land degradation and to improve agricultural productivity in six rural regions of Ethiopia (Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambella, Oromia, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Regions, Tigray). The resilience of small holder farmers against the impacts of climate change is also strengthened.The ChallengeThe rural population in many regions of Ethiopia is exposed to the risk of increasing land degradation. 30.000 hectares of land are lost annually. Arable land and pastures turn unproductive or are destroyed by soil erosion. Natural resources become scarce. High population growth as well as inadequate farming and grazing practices result in massive deforestation, declining soil fertility and increasing soil erosion. Thus, agricultural productivity decreases, the incomes of small holder farmers are reduced. The effects of climate change exacerbate the situation.Our ApproachGIZ and KfW Development Bank work together with the Ethiopian SLMP to support the rural population in facing these challenges with methods of sustainable land management.The advisory services of GIZ aim to improve the legal framework for sustainable land management and to support the Ethiopian agricultural extension services and the decentralised agricultural institutions. These offices and bureaus implement the national SLMP on communal, district and regional level. Advisory services by GIZ focus on trainings for Ethiopian experts as well as strengthening the implementation capacities of involved institutions. GIZ enables the transfer of technical knowledge among national experts and the rural population with regard to land management, i.e. soil and water conservation. Complementary knowledge on how to shape processes of change together with the local population in a participatory manner also plays an integral role. The programme actively promotes income generating activities for small holder farmers.Furthermore, GIZ experts advise the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture on the implementation of the national SLMP and participatory rural development. With regard to the latter, forests in and adjacent to SLMP watersheds play an important role. National experts, trained by GIZ advisors, develop management plans together with the communities for using the resources of the forest in a sustainable way.The KfW Development Bank provides funding for investments on communal and private land in SLMP watersheds via the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture. The communities rehabilitate erosion gullies on a large scale and construct and revegetate terraces on hillsides in order to restore agricultural areas and stabilise slopes. In addition, KfW Development Bank supports measures of improved livestock rearing and high productivity horticulture. It also finances the construction of communal infrastructure. This is accompanied by irrigation, revegetation and reforestation and contributes to better soil health, crop yields and incomes of the rural population.ImpactsThe described impacts relate to the programme’s previous phase until December 2014 and the three highland regions Amhara, Oromia and Tigray where the programme has been active then.• The rural population applies sustainable land management practices on about 180,000 hectares of formerly degraded land. Terraces, permanent vegetation cover, crop rotation and other measures reduce land degradation significantly.• Since 2008 the area under small scale irrigation increased by approx. 2.000 hectares. Small scale farmers achieve now higher yields and incomes.• The Ethiopian partners have been supported on all administrative levels to plan and implement their projects and programmes in a better way. With the communities they developed more than 670 plans for watershed investment and management which are now being implemented.• Measures of sustainable land management reach approx. 194,000 households. The national extension workers and experts on district and communal level know how to scale up the approach and transfer it to other areas.• People of the communities have improved their knowledge and skills. Also, the level of personal responsibility among the target groups has increased. Now more than 500 local user organisations for small scale farming manage communal land together in a sustainable way. They receive advice from trained experts of the districts and communes.

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