DIFFERENCES IN LOCAL AND EXTENSION KNOWLEDGE FAVOURS THE USE OF EXOTIC OVER NATIVE SPECIES IN

AGROFORESTRY INTERVENTIONS

A SCOPING STUDY FROM LAKE TANGANYIKA IN UVIRA, DRC

Emilie Smithwith Dieudonné Kilola

World Agroforestry Centre ICRAF

CONTEXT OF THE STUDY

ICRAF consultative and training role in the Lake Tanganyika Sustainable Catchment Management Program .

Transboundary program aiming to :

Promote of agroforestry and sustainable land use practices to:

• Reduce sediment loading

• Mitigate the degradation of lake resources

• Improve local livelihoods

RATIONALE

Success of AF interventions is strongly dependant on:

• Local perceptions of trees (opportunities, constraints, trade-offs)

• Available knowledge and technology

Building on Local Knowledge is essential to understand where to place trees in the landscape and with which species and assemblages

Local knowledge wealth can inform further research and development needs

Knowledge gaps can be identified and addressed through training provision

OBJECTIVES

• Elicit qualitative information on drivers of land use changes and their impact

• Collect and collate local ecological knowledge about land use and land cover changes and ecosystem services associated with trees

• Evaluate possible agroforestry interventions in the catchment through:

a. Participatory assessment of farmers’ preference and priorities for tree planting (attributes, utilities and spatial characterisation)

b. Review of governance and socio-economic indicators

RESEARCH SITES1. Mulongwe

2. Kalimabenge

3. Kakumba/Kigongo

Uvira

METHODOLOGY

Qualitative scoping research using a combination of participatoryresearch techniques applied through :

• A selection of tools designed within the TULSEA framework:

- DRILUC - Drivers of land use change

- RAFT - Rapid Appraisal of Agroforestry Practices, Systems & Technology

• AKT Agroecological Knowledge Toolkit – methodology and software for knowledge aquisition

Trees in Multi-Use Landscape in Southeast Asia (TUL-SEA) A negotiation support toolbox for Integrated Natural Resource Management http://www.worldagroforestrycentre.org/tul_sea

Information on AKT methodology and applications http://akt.bangor.ac.uk/

HYPOTHESESAND SAMPLING STRATEGY

Farmers possess important local ecological knowledge of trees, erosion process and land degradation

• There are variations in local ecological knowledge of farmers determined by altitude

• There are gender differences in knowledge about trees

• Extension knowledge differs from local farmers knowledge about land management and trees

AND that it is useful to analyse these variations in order to generate a range of options to address erosion and land degradation

Combination of purposeful, convenience, self-selectingsampling to obtain representation of knowledge variations in the area.

SAMPLES AND RESEARCH TECHNIQUES

Participatory mapping and sketches

OTHER DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES

PRESENTATION OF SOME RESULTS

1. Knowledge variations (extension/farmers/ upland-lowland farmers – Gender)

2. Priorities for intervention elicited from farmers

REFORESTATION PROGRAMSAND EXTENSION KNOWLEDGE DERIVATION

• PROBLEMS IN THE CATCHMENT ARE NOT NEW: Long history of reforestation/anti-erosion programs to address land degradation

• Extension knowledge derived from training as part of external programs through local peasant associations or parishes (e.g. CEPAC and churches)

• Programs concentrated on the lower catchment due to easier accessibility

• Programs using mainly exotic species (historically Eucalyptus though with an increasing and recent interests in other species)

• Promotion of species which are not adapted to the higher altitude in the catchment ( Acacia mangium, Senna siamea, Pterocarpus angolensis, Tamarindus indica)

EXTENSION KNOWLEDGE

Local extension staff (agronomists or agricultural technicians ) have theoretical knowledge of :

• Different soil and water conservation techniques (contour farming, terraces, mulch, compost)

• Exotic tree species

• Agroforestry species (including Calliandra, Leucena, Moringa sp. Acacia sp).

BUT little knowledge of local species beyond those economically important (export timber species) or trees located in the lower part of the catchment

• Lack of taxonomic identification for native species

• Absence of scientific documentation/publication on native species (identification guide)

(only publication 1944 – long list of forest species in the Kivu region)

• Identification of trees complicated by the different local vernacular names giving rise to confusions

SCIENTIFIC/TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE

LOCAL ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE

• Utilitarian knowledge (provisioning services, preferences) linked to ancestral practices

• Highly developed local taxonomic knowledge

• Knowledge elicited vegetation behaviour, niches, regeneration, biodiversity associations derived from observations

• Explanatory knowledge of processes and interactions (deforestation- erosion-river regimes) derived from observations

Farmers interviewed classify 3 main agro-ecological zones determined mainly by altitude conditions

1. Plain and lacustrian zone (dry and hot zone)

2. Lower mid-plateaux (temperate zone )between 900m until 1500m

3. Upper mid-plateaux (cold zone) (1500 to 2200 m)

Within these zones farmers have different experiences withtrees and land management and different knowledge aboutnative tree species

BOUNDARY LOWER AND MID CATCHMENT

LOCAL ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE AND INFLUENCES

• Lack of access to technical knowledge or improved technologies

• Little if no interactions with extension agents especially for farmers located upland

• Absence of government extension services

• Hearsay about successful reforestation programs from neighbouring countries (part. Rwanda)

• Hearsay about Leucena sp. widespread negative image (CEPAC project)

fruit groves, construction, hunting, bee-keeping, timber trade

wide knowledge of different trees

a strong interest in trees

AND a lot more time to discuss trees

WOMEN

Main concern : FEEDING THE FAMILY

Direct interest in fuel-wood and fruit trees (exotic and indigenous) important for family nutrition and income

More interested in talking about soil fertility and mainly about cassava and their need for cuttings from improved mosaic disease resistant varieties

LK AND GENDER VARIATIONS

MEN

Cultural household division of labour: knowledge and interests

PRIORITIES FOR AGROFORESTRY INTERVENTIONSELICITED FROM FARMERS

1. Fruit trees

2. Woodlots

3. Restoring soil fertility

4. Pastures

5. Erosion hotspots (landslides, river, buffer, paths)

1. FRUIT TREES

• Decline in all fruit trees - wild and exotic (war, abandonned groves, trees felled for charcoal)

• Important for nutrition, healthand income (diversity of trees withdifferent phenology)

• Lack of reproduction material

Loss of genetic diversity

1. FRUIT TREES

Grown near homestead , River buffer zonesPotentially highly productive systems in gullies and near watercourses

Absence of grafting and improved reproduction techniques

Extremely severe pest and disease problems and the urgent need to develop IPM programs – This is causing large scale abandonment of banana based gardens(previously mutli-strata fruit gardens)

2. WOODLOTS

exotic plantations : fuelwood, construction and income source

Individual and community plantations dominated by Eucalyptus but alsoGrevillea and Cypressus

Potential for use on marginal upslopefields with low fertility

Alternative plantations (eg. Khaya spp, Terminalia spp, Haegenia abyssinica, Syzygiumsp.) But ambiguous status of native foresttrees

3. RESTORING

SOIL FERTILITY

IN CROP LAND

WIDESPREAD EROSION (SURFACE RUN-OFF PREVENT VERTICAL INCISIONS, GULLYING)

FERTILITY LOSS, CROP LOSS , LAND LOSS, PESTS AND DISEASES

HUNGER

PROBLEMS IN CROP LAND

Luhongolo traditional practice of vertical stone alignment

In general trees are absent in crop fields

Slash and burn field preparation

Rare application of soil and water conservation techniques

(No contour planting, green terraces, rare horizontal furrows)

DOMINANT CULTIVATION PRACTICES

Thitonia diversifolia for improvement of short fallowDigging trenches to prevent water from entering fields - Earth banks along pathways

Newly established KILONDOLONDO branchcuttings (Ficus cf. tremula)

Remanants of Boundary planting KIGOHWA (Erythrinaabyssinica) (Nfixer)

TRADITIONAL AGROFORESTRY PRACTICES Live-fences, boundary planting

Live fence MUSHALABA Tetradenia riparia

Practices largely destroyed/abandoned as a result of the wars

Small scale recent reintegration of these tree systemscan be observed in the landscape

Farmers have reproductive knowledge of these trees (mainly through branch cuttings)

TRADITIONAL AGROFORESTRY PRACTICES : shade/mulch trees

Kishenya (Entada abyssinica) retained with crude pollarding in field

Muvula (Milicia excelsa) in Musa sp. grove

EXAMPLES OF MULTIPURPOSE NATIVE NITROGEN FIXING TREES

CHALLENGES TO THE ADOPTION OF NEW TECHNOLOGY IN CROP LAND

Combination of SWC and AF techniques (Contour farming, vegetation strips, live fences)

Difficulty to change ‘habits’

Negative image of trees competitionwith crops

New skills required

Physical and labour intensive

Lack of land tenure security

Develop techniques with minimal soildisturbance, least labour intensive, cheap, giving fast results, using local resources

4. REHABILITATION OF PASTURESLoss of tree cover in previously savannah type zones

Bush fire incidence

Overgrazing

Loss of palatable forage

Weeds that exhaust an already fragile soil

EROSION HOTSPOTS

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE ABOUT WATERSHED FUNCTIONS AND PERTURBATIONS IN THE

WATER REGIME

EXAMPLE OF THE KALIMABENGE

SEISMIC ZONES AND LANDSLIDES

Participatory mapping of erosion and degradationhotspots and information elicited from farmers in the mid-plateaux confirm:

• the scientific study conducted on tectonic mouvements, landslides and hydrographic regime in the uvira sub-catchments(Moeyerson et al. 2009) in highlighting zones particulerly proneto erosion, sediment and rock movements and the dangers for downstream communities (cf. cyclical calamities linked to flooding and stone projections)

DEGRADATION HOTSPOTS AND SEDIMENT LOADING

Kabundamugere valley

DEGRADATION HOTSPOTS AND SEDIMENT LOADING

DEGRADATION HOTSPOTS AND SEDIMENT LOADING

Loss of fields or grazing area - Perturbations in river regimes (dam formation, domino effect, )Farmers suggest reforestation with a variety of grasses and native trees adapted to these zones (Dombeya sp., Ficus spp, Bamboos) along inside and around landslides

DEGRADATION HOTSPOTS : River banks

Are river banks negociable space?

More fertile land with loamy soils and higher water retentionProductive land for off-season cropsPotential for fruit orchards – native riparian species, nappier grass and bamboos

RIVER BUFFER ZONE

DEGRADATION HOTSPOTS : Mountain pathways

• Dynamic transit zone linking the plain to the high-plateaux

Mountain pathways and dangers

MOUNTAIN PATHS Slope stability and erosion

COLLECTIVE AND/OR INDIVIDUAL REFORESTING ACTIVIES

FAST GROWING ANTI-EROSION TREES

MINIMUM INTERFERENCE WITH FIELDS

SUMMARY OF OPPORTUNITIES

• Agroecological zones suitable to a wide range of tree species

• Traditional AF knowledge and practices to build on

• Extensive hydrographic network and potential for water harvesting techniques

• Knowledge of SWC methods held by agronomist and extension agents, some knowledge of forest nurseries

• Existence of numerous peasant organisations

• Legal recognition of community forest ownership

• Traditional structure for customary land use management

• Social cohesion strong in the upper catchment

• Markets in Uvira,Bujumbura, Bukavu, Goma

CONSTRAINTS AND BOTTLENECKS

• Land scarcity and fragmentation

• Bush-fire practices

• Construction material

• Energy dependency on charcoal

• Land tenure

• Isolation and lack of voice

• Poverty and lack of long term vision

• Corruption at all levels of NRM

• Disincentive to reforest (tax)

• Low integration of women in programs

Knowledge gaps Farmers technical knowledge

Soil and water conservation methods such as contour farming, vegetation strips, mulch, improved fallows)

Tree management: Root pruning, spacing for better integration of trees in fields,

Village tree nurseries: seed and seedling management, grafting and improved reproduction methods

IPM for pest and diseases in fruit trees

Animal husbandry (feeding strategies) linked to improved pasture management – fodder trees

SUGGESTIONS TO INCREASE KNOWLEDGE CAPACITY

Farmer leaders network and

Farmer to farmer visits (e.g. Rwanda)

Community field demonstrations

Programs specifically targettingwomen for soil fertility management

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH:

• Taxonomic identification and ethno-botanic inventory of native species

• Geophysical analysis of landslide zones for design of interventions (mechanical + reforestation ?)

• Soil analysis for heavily degraded sites to determine suitable pioneer trees

• Domestication of native wild fruit species (e.g. Uapaca spp., Myrianthus holstii)

• IPM for fruit grove rehabilitation

THANK YOU!