Sustainable Land Management for enhanced agricultural

production in Rwanda

By

Joy Tukahirwa, Miyuki I., Shepherd K., Masuki K., and

Mukuralinda A.

16th February, 2011,

Key Statistics on Rwanda

Rate of population growth is among the world’s highest (above 3.0 % annually).

Average rural population density of 574 inhabitants per km2 highest in Africa

Most arable land is under cultivation.

Per capita food production is declining, having dropped by 25 % post genocide.

Most farmers experiencing declining productivity.

Most farmland suffers from moderate to severe erosion

Land Degradation in RwandaUpstream /down stream Challenges •Land use conflicts

Conservation and agriculture –upper catchments

•Runoff and nutrient losses upstream –mid slope

•Sedimentation and Pollution downstream

Bottlenecks at multiple levels•PLOT: Declining fertility

•FARM: Lack of awareness of benefits of SLM

practices hence low adoption

•COMMUNITY : Lack of collective action

•DISTRICT: Inhibiting Access and Control factors & Policy dynamics

CURRENT GOVERNMENT STRIDES TOWARDS RECOVERY& RESIELIENCE

Policy Innovations

Radical Terraces

Crop intensification

One cow one family

Capacity building in SLM

ICRAF / RADA PARTNERSHIPTOWARDS CAPACITY BUILDING IN SLM

3 AREAS

• Capacity building of extension staff

Communication strategy

Cost benefit Analysis to target wide adoption

• Assessing soil health

• Designing and implementing an interactive knowledge management database

COMMUNICATIING SLM

Objective:

Increase the proportion of stakeholders with adequate awareness, knowledge and skills about SLM and its benefits

Existing Barriers:

•Low awareness of benefits of SLM

•Negative attitudes SLM practices introduced thru coercive approach

•lack of communication capacity for knowledge transmission among extension staff

SLM MANNUAL AND CURRICULUM

Objective

Describe a step by steps tool to support extension service in promoting SLM among stakeholders

Target Group:

Technical staff in Decentralized Local Government including

Extension Service staff

Recently recruited and elected leaders in charge of land use and agriculture at different levels at District, Sectors ( Subcounty) and Cells ( Parishes)

Farmers

Private sector: Input dealers

( E.G. Fertilizer and lime)

Sustainable Land Management Information System (SLAMIS-RWANDA)

Brief report on preliminary results of financial CBA

Baseline Scenario(current crop yields)

Optimistic Scenario(improved crop yields)

Site/land size with opp. Costs of family labour/land

without opp. Costs of family labour/land

with opp. Costs of family labour/land

without opp. Costs of family labour/land

Rwaza (5ha/radical) USD - 76,243 USD - 1,238 USD - 43,134 USD 31,871 (52%)

Kabaya (5.9ha/radical) USD -87,000 USD -4,231 USD -81,801 USD 968 (11%)

Kagogo (8ha/radical) USD -222,055 USD -73,049 USD -133,999 USD 15,009 (26%)

Mukamira (35ha/progressive) USD - 291,414 USD 282,956 (62%) USD - 214,260 USD 360,110 (74%)

Preliminary results•Initial investment cost were found not

prohibitive

•While provision costs: especially opp. costs of family labour tend to keep SLM less/marginally profitable or even not viable

•There is need to minimize costs of production while maximizing yields/returns to farmers

Land Health SurveillanceA science-based approach

•Identify land health problems

•Quantify major risks to land health

•Target land management interventions

•Evaluate outcomes on ecosystem services

• Designed to provide;

biophysical baselines at landscape level

a monitoring and evaluation framework

the Land Degradation Surveillance Framework

AfricaSoils Sentinel Site based on the Land Degradation Surveillance

Frameworka spatially stratified,

hierarchical, randomized

sampling framework

Sentinel site (100 km2)

16 Clusters (1 km2)

10 Plots (1000 m2)

4 Sub-Plots (100 m2)

Sampling plot (1000 m2)sub-plots (100 m2)

Infrared Spectroscopy for rapid soil characterization

• Rapid

• Reproducible

• Low cost

• Predicts functional soil properties

Survey of Rwaza site

Training of SLM team

• 20 field agronomists (SLM) trained in AFSIS methods on land degradation surveillence and monitoring land change due to management over time

• Among them 18 men and two female

• Field survey involved; Soil sampling, infiltration measuring, soil texture, site and cover characteracterization

Trainees in the field

Field Cont..

LONG TERM OPPORTUNITIES

• Catalyzing collective action in SLM through land care approaches

• Capitalising on land scape niches for agroforestry on terrace

• Maximizing agroforestry benefits

THANK YOU