Agriculture, Food Security and REDD+ in East Africa

article November 2011 Agriculture, Food Security and REDD+ in East Africa By Kimbowa Richard, David M. Mwayafu and Harriet Smith KEY POINTS • Agri...
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November 2011

Agriculture, Food Security and REDD+ in East Africa By Kimbowa Richard, David M. Mwayafu and Harriet Smith

KEY POINTS • Agriculture and food security is a particularly important issue in the East Africa Community and one which has been identified for regional cooperation. • REDD+ has the potential to contribute to these objectives, and some strategies to do this have been identified in early REDD+ strategy documents in the region. The following recommendations are put forward to maximise the synergies between REDD+, agriculture and food security in East Africa: • REDD+ should contribute to documentation of useful community experiences and practices in integrated disease and vector management in trees, crops and animals as well as agroforestry pest management. These practices can then be scaled up and used to inform communities about alternative activities to secure sustainable management of forest and other resources.

Mr Yusuf Kisiero who uses agroforestry techniques on his farm. Agroforestry has been identified as a potential synergy between REDD+ and agricultural objectives in East Africa.

DISCLAIMER This paper is published by the REDD-net programme, supported by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD). The views and recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the funders or institutions involved in REDD-net. Research was carried out June – November 2011.

INTRODUCTION REDD+ stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, including the role of conservation, sustainable management of forest and enhancement of carbon stocks in developing countries. This mechanism is intended to provide payments to developing countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from forests, and could support activities such as the conservation of existing forests, sustainable forest management and enhancing carbon stocks which may include reforestation or afforestation activities.

• REDD+ should support increased community knowledge exchange and skills development in sustainable agriculture, conservation tillage and other practices. These can reduce the impact of unsustainable agricultural practices on forest and land resources in East Africa’s dry lands and fragile ecosystems. • REDD+ should support demonstration centres in different agro-ecological zones, to supplement existing extension and advisory services. These could work as the interfacing platform between the farming communities and researchers, by displaying relevant agricultural (including cropping systems, forestry and energy) technologies, innovations and practices as they are regularly developed. • Building on the experiences from the R-PP process, REDD+ should enable foras to be created or strengthened to generate ideas and discussions to restrain potential conflicts and to secure community ownership of the mainly agricultural – led development interventions. • There is a need to harmonize policy and legal frameworks in agriculture, water resources, energy and other sectors to reflect REDD+ and avoid conflicting initiatives. In light of the anticipated economic and population growth, ‘compartmentalization’ of agriculture and other sectors could stimulate further tension between conflicting mandates at the expense of sustainable land, water, forests and other resources.

Why

is it important to consider the

synergies and tradeoffs between

REDD+

and

agriculture ?

As agricultural expansion is one of the main drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, the emergence of REDD+ provides an opportunity on both the regional and national scale, to invest in long term sustainable agriculture. This will involve conservation of forest resources, promotion of agroforestry, and environmentally friendly farming practices that can contribute to mitigation of climate change in the region, while complementing regional and national strategies to address food insecurity and famine in the long run. This paper is based on the REDD-net paper on REDD+ and other sectors in East Africa (Kimbowa R. et al., 2011).

Link between REDD+ East Africa

and land productivity in

Agriculture and food security 1 are inextricably linked in East Africa (EA), with the economy of the East Africa Community (EAC) dependent upon the agricultural sector. Although the region has a huge potential and capacity to produce enough food for regional consumption, and a large surplus for export to the world market, the EA region is frequently affected by food insecurity, suffering from food shortages and pockets of hunger. At the same time, the increasing population demands that the region has appropriate food security measures in place. With deteriorating land productivity due to deforestation and land degradation, REDD+ activities have the potential to cost effectively replenish the soils (though long-term) through agroforestry and farm forestry while providing fodder (cattle,

goats sheep etc). In addition, the trees planted on public and private land can be useful as a source of food (fruits), fuel, medicine as well as moderating the local climatic conditions (which is of benefit to agriculture). Therefore REDD+ can potentially contribute to the achievement of regional food security, which is currently constrained by issues summarised in Table 1. In recognising that food production in East Africa is adversely affected by the impacts of climate change, national agricultural objectives and strategies follow the East African Community Treaty objectives that seek to cooperate in increasing agricultural productivity, whilst addressing deforestation and land degradation (as noted in Table 1). The East African Community has identified agriculture and food security as one the areas of cooperation due to increased pressure on natural resources and degradation of the environment (a result of rapid population growth, poor soil management practices and overgrazing); the low and unstable agricultural productivity as a result of over-reliance on rain-fed agricultural production systems; and the increased frequency and severity of extreme weather such as floods and drought as a result of climate change, which adversely affects food production. The proposed REDD+ strategies in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda aim to contribute to agriculture and food security (as shown in Table 2). From this table it can be noted that REDD+, agriculture and food security sector priorities demonstrate close alignment, although this is yet to be seen in practice given that REDD+ is a recent policy strategy to be implemented in East Africa. However, the differences between agro-ecological zones mean that different types of agricultural practices that are consistent with forest resource management will be appropriate in different areas. Further details are shown in Table 2.

TABLE 1: CONSTRAINTS IN ACHIEVING FOOD SECURITY IN THE EAC

Water infrastructure Over-reliance on rain-fed agricultural production systems, low capacity on rain water harvesting and inefficient utilization of water resources. Civil/social unrest

Disruption of food production and distribution due to social unrest and political instability.

Access and distribution

Gender imbalances in access to opportunities in production, marketing, consumption, access and control of productive resources and inadequate food access particularly among the vulnerable population.

Climate Change

Increased frequency and severity of extreme weather and an inadequate flow of information on the adverse climate change impacts and actions to the producers2.

Additional Pressures Increased pressure on natural resources and degradation of environment due to rapid population growth, poor soil management practices, overgrazing etc. Source: United Nations; EAC (2010a)

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Agriculture refers to crop production, livestock production, fisheries and forestry, while food security describes a situation when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (FAO, 1996).

2

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FEWSNET predicted a worst-case scenario of rainfall of less than 50 percent of average in the coming six months resulting in rising food prices and declining household purchasing power in areas of Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya which have pushed levels of acute malnutrition above emergency thresholds in these regions (FEWSNET, 2011).

As the policy, legal and institutions to implement REDD+ interventions are being put in place, challenges are emerging. The consultative processes during national R-PPs highlighted multiple areas where improvements are necessary. For example, there is concern that many of the potential solutions to tackle the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation due to agricultural expansion (crop and livestock production), do not take into account the need to provide viable economic alternatives and options

for those involved. Similarly, communities in dry land areas of East Africa depend heavily on forests and other natural resources for their livelihoods and they will need to be provided with alternatives (to cattle rearing) and options (sustainable agriculture) to reduce their impact on land and forest resources as they look for fresh pasture and water for their animals.

TABLE 2: SUMMARY OF LINKS BETWEEN NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES, AND PROPOSED REDD+ STRATEGIES

National agricultural objectives

Proposed REDD+ Strategies

What should be included for REDD+ to more effectively contribute to agricultural sector objectives?

Kenya Draft National Policy for the Sustainable Development of Arid and Semi-Arid Lands of Kenya (ASAL), 2004 seeks to: • Sustainably tap the enormous potential of forests, woodlands in the ASALs for improved livelihoods in these areas • Key Result Area 2 of ASAL: Environmental Sustainability seeks to improve land sustainability capacity, conservation efforts

Strategy for Revitalizing Agriculture (SRA), 2005 Objectives: Enhance overall agricultural productivity, diversify incomes and increase farm household incomes.

• Promote agroforestry, wood fuel • Explore the potential for irrigation in ASALs efficiency, alternative energy so as to reduce encroachment on fragile sources and enhance national lands (forests) in search of productive land for carbon stocks through afforestation agriculture. This has the potential to increase and reforestation. agricultural productivity without increasing forest • Support the Kenya Forest Services encroachment. to address forest fires including • Explore the possibility for improving uptake of early warning systems, fire sustainable agricultural practices like mulching preparedness, and enhance fire and agroforestry for the poor and vulnerable fighting capability. communities in ASALs. These communities are heavily dependent on nature (as pastoralists) and [GOK (2010): pp39 – 40:pp 38, 40] are constantly in need of fresh pastures, water for their livestock. • Encouraging faming intensification, • Provide agricultural inputs to poor and vulnerable forest adjacent communities in line with the government’s National Accelerated Agricultural Inputs Access Program (NAAIAP), • Support commercial agroforestry initiatives and assisting the Kenyan Forest Service with related pilot forestry projects.

• Promote alternative income generating activities (to the lucrative activity of charcoal production) as one way to reduce pressure in the remaining forests in ASAL • Regulate the production and trade of firewood and charcoal that result in land degradation, through incentivised community-based schemes / initiatives.

[GOK (2010): pp39 – 40:pp38, 42]

Tanzania Agricultural and Livestock Policy, 1997 Objectives: Develop human resources and introduce new technologies to increase productivity, promote integrated and sustainable management of natural resources. Strategies: Natural resource management, agricultural research and training.

• Introduce alternative energy • Increase efficient utilisation of biomass by sources, plus increased efficient promoting efficient technologies, options and utilization of biomass, practices in institutional cooking and curing, • Promote alternative energy sources technologies (e.g. schools, small, medium and to wood fuel. large wood consuming enterprises like tea, and • Sustainable management of tobacco, hospitals) critical watershed areas by • Specific and urgent attention to promote efficient safeguarding consistent water flow charcoal making technologies for proposed hydro-electric power • Regulate the production and trade of firewood and generating dams. charcoal through incentivised community-based schemes / initiatives. [URT (2010): pp83]

continued overleaf

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TABLE 2: SUMMARY OF LINKS BETWEEN NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES, AND PROPOSED REDD+ STRATEGIES (continued)

National agricultural objectives

Proposed REDD+ Strategies

What should be included for REDD+ to more effectively contribute to agricultural sector objectives?

Tanzania (continued) Livestock Policy, 2006 Strategy: Protect and manage fallow and forestland

Tanzanian Development Vision 2025 sustainable natural resource management related to livestock production (management of fallow and forestlands)

• Improve existing farming systems (by supporting new farming innovations and appropriate crop interventions), • Enhance human resource capacity (through the creation of related farmer field schools) • Encourage agro-ecosystems which improve soil fertility, productivity and crop protection. • Expand commercial farming through advocating suitable government policy on bio-fuel production, • Raise awareness on land tenure issues, • enhancing green labelling system and supporting the development of investment guidelines • Improve forest governance issues, afforestation and reforestation activities, promote agroforestry farming systems and programs on farm animal health (if carrying capacity is taken into account, livestock production can be a viable source of income that can reduce pressure on the forest resources). [URT (2010):pp 72 - 85]

Uganda National Agricultural Sector Development Strategy and Investment Plan, 2010/11 – 2014/15 • Enhance productivity through sustainable land management, • Develop suitable farming systems and clear and predictable policy frameworks, • improve public education on natural resource issues. Uganda National Land Policy, 2011 Objectives: Harmonize tenure rights and all land-related policies and laws. Provide sustainable utilization, protection and management of environment and natural resources. Uganda National Forestry Policy, 2001 Policy Statement 6: Farm forestry • Build the capacity of farmers to integrate forestry into all farming systems. • Create awareness of the ownership of planted trees to provide clear incentives and security for individuals to undertake on-farm tree-growing. • Integrate agroforestry into school curricula and adult literacy material.

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• Assess the impact of grazing on deforestation and developing woodland management strategies. • Promote farm forestry facilitating carbon market financing for private land owners. • Increasing land productivity per unit land area • Clarification of tenure rights, agricultural intensification and cost-benefit analyses between land conversion for agriculture and maintaining forest land..

• Promote interventions that can reduce impacts of livestock on forest resources, for example dams, shallow wells and protected springs. • Promote agriculture extension and advisory services that emphasize agroforestry innovations, technologies and practices

[GoU (2011): pp 87 - 88]

• Promote trees that suit particular agroecological zones, as well as farmers’ interests. For example Prosopsis spp – a native of ASALs that mitigates the impacts of drought and famine by ensuring provision of both wood (for example good quality firewood and charcoal) and a range non-wood products (Boabab, 2011)

How

can

REDD+

better contribute to

agricultural sector objectives at the country and regional levels ?

From the above analysis and discussion, the following recommendations are put forward for REDD+ to better contribute to agriculture and food security in East Africa: • REDD+ should contribute to documentation and sharing of useful community experiences and practices in integrated disease and vector management in trees, crops and animals; agroforestry pests management that can be scaled up to inform communities about alternative activities to secure sustainable management of forest and other resources. This could also influence the research agenda and priority setting to address identified community needs and support community based forest resource management • REDD+ should support increased community knowledge exchange and skills development in sustainable agriculture, conservation tillage and other practices for farmers and farmer groups that can reduce the impact of unsustainable agricultural practices on forest and land resources in East Africa’s dry lands and fragile ecosystems. • REDD+ should support demonstration centres in different agroecological zones, to supplement existing extension and advisory services. These could work as the interfacing platform between the farming communities and researchers, by displaying relevant agricultural (including cropping systems, forestry and energy) technologies, innovations and practices as they are developed.

• National agricultural policies should be reviewed and harmonized in order to reduce conflicts, explore opportunities and linkages between REDD+, energy, water supply and education by addressing institutional weaknesses, governance and other gaps. This will provide better guidance to East African extension and advisory services, and community development staff to design interventions that can address relevant challenges from a wider rather than a narrow (agricultural) perspective. • Building on the experiences from the R-PP process, REDD+ should enable foras to be created or strengthened in order to generate ideas and discussions to restrain potential conflicts and to secure ownership of the mainly agricultural – led development interventions. These include regular consultations, discussions and feedback / evaluation mechanisms, policy development and reviews (for example on the ‘touchy’ issues of land tenure and management, valuefor-money of agricultural interventions, suitable models for integrating agricultural producers and processors, etc). This could enable CSOs, think tanks, media and community-based and indigenous people’s organizations to contribute to rural development that secures sustainable natural resources use while improving community livelihoods. • There is a need to harmonize policy and legal frameworks in agriculture, water resources, energy and other sectors to reflect REDD+ and avoid conflicting initiatives. In light of the anticipated economic and population growth ‘compartmentalization’ of agriculture and other sectors, could further flare up the conflicting mandates at the expense of sustainable land, water, forests and other resources.

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REFERENCES CITED AND FURTHER READING Boabab (2011). Trees and Farming: Project focus – Prosopsis. A magazine on drylands development and sustainable agriculture. Issue 62, June 2011 GoK (2004). Draft National Policy for the Sustainable development of Arid and Semi Arid Lands of Kenya (December 2004) GoK (2005a). Arid and Semi Arid Lands (ASAL). National Vision and Strategy - Natural Resource management (2005-2015): www.aridland.go.ke/NRM_Strategy/natural_resource_management_2005-2015.pdf accessed October 2011 GoK (2010c). Revised REDD Readiness Preparation Proposal Kenya www.forestcarbonpartnership.org/fcp/sites/forestcarbonpartnership.org/ files/Documents/PDF/Oct2010/Revised%20RPP%20for%20Kenya.pdf accessed June 2011 J. E.O Ongwae (2005). ‘Strategy for revitalizing agriculture (SRA). The Kenyan way towards a Sector –Wide Approach’. Government of Kenya presentation made at the 9th AFRICAN FORUM, Ougadougou, September, 2005 Oxfam (2006). Briefing Paper No. 88. Delivering the agenda Addressing chronic under-development in Kenya’s arid lands: www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/policy/trade/downloads/bp88_kenya.pdf accessed September 2011 EAC (2002). The Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community.Signed on 30th November, 1999. EAC (2010a). The East African Community Food Security Action Plan (2010 – 2015) EAC (2010b). EAC Facts and Figures Report: www.eac.int/statistics/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=131&tmpl=comp onent&format=raw&Itemid=153 accessed July 4, 2011 FEWSNET (2011). Food Security Alert for East Africa: www.foodsecurityportal.org/fews-net-releases-food-security-alert-east-africa-0 accessed July 16, 2011 GoU (2001). Uganda Forestry Policy, 2001. Ministry of Water, Lands and the Environment GoU (2010). National Agricultural Sector Development Strategy and Investment Plan, 2010/11 – 2014/15 GoU (2011a). REDD Readiness Preparation Proposal for Uganda Submitted to the Forest Carbon Partnership Fund www.forestcarbonpartnership.org/fcp/sites/forestcarbonpartnership.org/files/Documents/PDF/Jun2011/Uganda%20Revised%20 RPP%20May%2031%2C%20%202011_0.pdf accessed on June 2011. GoU (2011b). Uganda National Land Policy, 2011. Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Century Building, Plot No. 13/15, Parliament Avenue. Kampala, Uganda. J. E.O Ongwae (2005). ‘Strategy for Revitalizing Agriculture (SRA).The Kenyan way towards a Sector –Wide Approach’. Government of Kenya presentation made at the 9th AFRICAN FORUM, Ougadougou, September, 2005 Kimbowa R, Mwayafu M.D., & Kairu G. (2011). REDD+ and other sectors in East Africa. A publication of REDD-net URT (1997). Tanzania Agricultural Policy 1997. Ministry of Agriculture and cooperatives, Dar es Salaam Tanzania URT (2006). Tanzania Livestock Policy, 2006. Ministry of Livestock Development: www.mifugo.go.tz/documents_storage/l%20Livetock%20Policy.pdf : accessed in September 2011. URT (2010). National Strategy for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+): REDD Tanzania Initiative: www.reddtz.org/content/view/22/26/ accessed June 10, 2011 URT (undated). The Tanzania Development Vision 2025: www.tanzania.go.tz/vision.htm accessed October 2011

ABOUT REDD-NET REDD-net is an international knowledge forum for southern civil society organizations through which they can access information about efforts to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, share their own experiences and help to build pro-poor REDD projects and policies. REDD-net is a partnership between the Overseas Development Institute, Centro Agrononómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE), RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests and Uganda Coalition for Sustainable Development. REDD-net is funded by Norad.

For more information about the programme contact Kristy Graham at ODI ([email protected]). For further information on REDD-net East Africa please contact David Mwayafu ([email protected])

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT REDD-NET VISIT: WWW.REDD-NET.ORG

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