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,
 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 Ato Betru
 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.
THANK YOU FOR
YOUR ATTENTION