Agro-pastoral and agro-ecological baseline survey. Methodology : short term consultancy 10-30 March 2002

Mission pour la définition d'une méthode de prise d'information et de suivi concernant l'environnement dans les régions où est appliquée la lutte contre les tsé-tsé et les trypanosomoses animales et humaines. Le rapport précise les problèmes environnementaux dominants spécifiques à chaque pays, il précise un certain nombre d'indicateurs de suivi, esquisse les méthodes de collecte des données et les conditions de réalisation à respecter pour leur mise en oeuvre. (Résumé d'auteur

Feedback workshops with communities in Eastern Uganda. W6

1. Two-day workshops were held in each study site in the four districts of Soroti, Tororo, Iganga and Kamuli. Four to five villages, who attended the last workshop were invited for this second round of workshops. Forty -five to eighty percent of those who attended the first workshop were present. 2. The discussions especially during the first day of report presentations were lively and helped to bring those who were not in the first workshop on board. The deliberations in each theme were demonstration of the issues that were central to the communities’ interest. 3. One issue that kept on recurring is population increase and failure of the communities to deal with it. Although family planning is an accepted method of population control in the world, some of the communities were not free to discuss it and even at family level it may not be discussed. There is need therefore, for the communities to be sensitized on methods of family planning in order for them to make informed choices while discussing this problem. 4. FITCA-EMMC project is coming to a close. Before it winds up activities in the region, it is important to hold a stakeholders’ workshop to entrust the work of environmental monitoring and management in these communities to other organisations that will be able to provide the financial resources to see the work progresses and also external monitoring to strengthen the internal monitoring system put forward by the communities. (Résumé d'auteur

Soil fertility analysis associated to land use in Western Kenya. B2

A total of 112 samples were collected from Busia Township and Angurai sites in Busia and Teso Districts respectively. These comprised 25 from Busia and 87 from Angurai in two sampling dates, 2002 and 2004 to determine soil fertility change over the two year period. In order to assess the soil fertility from the sites, and in different land uses, soil chemical and texture analysis was carried out and values compared with crop recommended agronomically adequate values for specific elements. Texture for purposes of soil hydrologie behaviour was also considered in respect to soil water. Average organic carbon in the soils was 1.39% with mean in Busia and only 64% of the farms had adequate levels of carbon. In Angurai site, mean organic carbon increased over the two year period from 1.13% to 1.41% with the number of farms with adequate (moderate) levels increasing from 13% to 35%. However, overall carbon levels were still below threshold levels during the two sampling intervals. These levels of nitrogen indicated that the soils were very low in organic matter as revealed by the analysed total nitrogen, which ranged from very low to just moderately adequate. Generally the sites showed low soil fertility status as indicated by the soil organic C, total nitrogen, available phosphorous and soil PH. Exchangeable potassium was adequate in the two sites although the second sampling (after two years) in Angurai showed slightly low but above threshold levels of the same. Available phosphorous was very low to sustain optimal crop yield in both sites even after two years sampling interval (in Teso District). 96% of points in Busia and 89% of points in Angurai and 80% of points after second sampling same site had deficient levels of available phosphorous. Some farms within the sites were applied phosphate fertilizers at planting time while others received no fertilizers. Majority of soils from these sites were also found to be strongly acidic thereby limiting availability of phosphorous. In these situations, phosphorus tends to be “fixed” by the soil. The low available P levels needs to be corrected through application of 100kg/ha of triple super phosphate or compound fertilizer containing N, P and K at planting time and top dress with 80kg/ha CAN. Acidifying fertilizers like diammonium phosphate (DAP), ammonium sulphate (AS) or ammonium sulphate nitrate (ASN) should be avoided due to their acidifying reaction. Alternatively, agricultural lime need to be applied at a rate of 2t/ha one month before planting. Exchangeable potassium (me%) was on average adequate but there were a good number of sites, which were K deficient and required K replenishment for balanced crop fertilizer application. Two year sampling interval in Angurai led to an increase in the points with potassium deficiency from 24% to 29%. It is recommended that in Busia site and Angurai in Teso District, compound fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium e.g. N: P: K 17:17:17 at 300kg/ha per year should be used at planting to correct N, P and K deficiencies in the soil. All the sites in Busia and Angurai (will) will require application of 5t/ha FYM or compost on sites with crops to raise soil organic matter and hence total nitrogen. In Angurai site foliar feed containing zinc, should be sprayed on crops. On the effect of time interval on soil fertility status in Teso District, it can be concluded that farming activities at this site led to change in soil fertility status and almost coincides with the KARI-NARL recommendations that oil should be resampled after very three years. Most of the land (60%) in Busia is under bushland/ grazing land/ grassland/fallow and least under nappier grass indicating most farmers here practice with free range grazing and limited zero grazing. Land under crops is just 36% of the land implying that farmers are slowly 2 adapting crop farming. The most important crops in Busia are maize (18%) and sweet potatoes (12%) followed by cassava (8%). In Angurai site during the first sampling, 83% of the land was under crop farming with the rest under bush/fallow while during the second sampling (2004), only 64% was under cultivation. Only 18% of the farms were fallow/bush for grazing. There was pure groundnut and groundnut intercropped with maize. The nitrogen fixed by groundnuts benefit the maize crop. The %sand, %silt and %clay indicated that soils taken from these two sites had a mean textural class of sandy loam (SL) even after an interval of two years sampling in Angurai. This texture implies that the soils have been subjected to erosion and hence the low %clay range of 5.8-57.3 % clay for Angurai and 11.1-41.2 % clay for Busia. Soil texture can only change due to erosion as both water and wind erosion would take away the fine particles first leaving large particles. (Résumé d’auteur

Soil fertility analysis associated to land use in Eastern Uganda. B1

A total of 191 soil samples were collected from different land uses in the four sites (Tororo, Iganga, Kamuli and Soroti Districts) in Uganda for soil fertility and texture analysis. Soil fertility in respect to organic carbon (organic matter), total nitrogen, available phosphorus, exchangeable potassium, and trace elements were variable but generally ranged from adequate to deficient with a lot of variations across sites and within sites. Mean organic carbon varied from very low (1.41% organic C) in Tororo to adequate (2.27% Organic C) in Iganga. The same trend was observed for total nitrogen, which also varied from very low (0.14% N) in Tororo to adequate (0.26% N) in Iganga. Only one site had adequate carbon levels with the rest (Tororo, Kamuli and Soroti) having low organic carbon levels. This was due to nitrogen fixing crops grown in Iganga (e.g. groundnut), level of inorganic fertilizers applied in coffee or maize farms and substantial bush/fallow fields (47%) in this site unlike in the other sites where no nutrients are added. Available phosphorus ranged from very low (4ppm) to luxury amounts (91 ppm) but the mean available P was low throughout the four sites (4-15ppm). Out of the four sites, 31% and 20% of sites in Tororo and Iganga respectively had potassium deficiency 15% of the farms in the other sites had deficiency problems. Trace elements ranged from very low to luxury amounts or consumption in some sites. In Soroti and Tororo, 100% and 96% land uses respectively had deficiency in zinc levels while 42% and 40% of the points in Kamuli and Soroti respectively were deficient in iron. However, the level of copper in all the sites was almost adequate (82%) in most of the land uses except in few places. Mean soil PH in the four sites indicated that the soil reaction was ranging from strongly acidic (PH <4.5) to medium acidity (PH <6.0). The range in soil PH was from PH 3.61 to PH 7.19. Both non-acidifying and acidifying fertilizers need to be selectively used depending on the soil PH at respective sites. The soil texture analysis showed that soils sampled from the four sites had a mean textural class of sandy clay loam (SCL). At the extreme range e.g. Tororo the soils are of clay nature usually dark/black clacking clays. This implies that the soil have been slightly eroded leading to poor soil fertility problems. FYM or compost must be added to modify the soil texture and improve its water holding characteristics. At Kamuli, Soroti, Iganga and Tororo sites, apply farmyard manure (FYM) or compost at 5t/ha to raise soil organic matter, PH and supply sufficient nitrogen to most of the crops. Apply 2t/ha of lime on maize/millet, maize and coffee at Soroti and Kamuli sites to raise the soil PH to between 5.5 and 6.5 required by most crops for optimal crop growth. It is recommended that compound fertilizer containing N: P: K 17:17:17 at 300kg/ha per year be used at planting time to correct nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium (NPK) deficiencies in the soil for common crops. For coffee, apply one debe or 1 Okg/tree of FYM or compost around the tree base; apply further 50g of TSP by broadcasting around the tree/year and top dress with 25kg/10tonnes CAN or ASN per year in alternate years. Apply 25kg of ASN to coffee at nursery. For maize in all sites top dress with 250kg/ha sulphate of ammonia in two portions at knee high and at flowering stage. Crop diversification noticed in most sites is recommended to utilize available nutrients and for crops to complement each other e.g. maize/groundnuts in terms of nutrients. Foliar feed containing zinc and iron is recommended for application on tree crops like coffee and bananas due to its scarcity in most sites. (Résumé d’auteur

FITCA-EMMC workshops on information exchange and training with rural communities on environment: Eastern Uganda. W1

Four workshops were held in four sub counties in the districts of Soroti, Tororo, Iganga and Kamuli. Five to seven villages were involved in each sub county. Participatory approach was used to gather the farmers' perception on four environmental themes; Forests and woodlands, wetlands and water, land and soils and livestock and wildlife. The main issues that have caused changes in each theme were: deforestation; cultivation of wetlands and drying up of swamps; land degradation and low productivity; livestock diseases and habitat destruction. 5 The communities related the changes to their effects on human livelihood and incidences of sleeping sickness and Nagana. Majority of these changes have had negative impacts on livelihood, thus making the communities poorer than before. Loss of habitat due to over exploitation of forests and cultivation of wetlands have affected tsetse ecolo gy and resulted in sleeping sickness and Nagana. The activities being undertaken by FITCA in reclaiming tsetse infested areas and making them available for agricultural activities are short term benefits whereas land degradation and the resultant cycle of poverty are the long term outcomes, unless steps are taken now to address the expected land use changes and the land carrying capacity. In this regard the initiative to encourage zero grazing and pasture development may help to address the problem of land degradation. The communities developed a suite of recommendations and indicators for each theme. It is important that follow up meetings be done to see the development of action plans at village level to implement these recommendations in order to arrest the downward spiral of the environment. Involvement of communities in monitoring, management and conservation is important in order to have a sustained conservation effort, as these communities are the ones bearing the full impacts of the changes that have taken place in the environment. (Résumé d’auteur

Annual report (first year). Project number: 7.ACP.RP.R. 578. April 2002

This report is covering the first year of activity of the project. The on-going activities implemented along this first period and the variations with the work-plan are reported in the first chapter of the report. Work-plan for the coming year is given at the end of this chapter. The second chapter is devoted to the financial report The strategy and tools, which are going to be applied for the monitoring and management of the environmental impact in the three countries, are developed and discussed in the last chapter of the document. (Resumé d'auteur

An approach for monitoring environmental impacts after tsetse control in eastern Africa

The most effective means to control trypanosomosis has been to reduce the population of the insect vectors that transmit the pathogenic trypanosomes to livestock and people. Many approaches have been applied to control the vector including vegetation clearing, bush burning, ground and aerial spraying and recently use of traps and targets. There are direct and indirect environmental impacts associated with tsetse control. Indirect impacts are dominated by the effect of increased human activities in the tsetse and trypanosomosis controlled areas. Tsetse control allows human occupation and one of the consequences is a rapid increase in farming, vegetation clearing, hunting of wild animals, and ploughing. These activities modify the ecosystems. Although impacts of tsetse control on the environmental have been known to exist for quite some time research to analyse the nature and ways to mitigate these impacts has just begun. There is therefore a general lack of methodologies to guide the analysis of the impacts especially the indirect impacts whose importance has been realized much more recently. This paper discusses an approach for identifying the impacts and suggests ways to conduct monitoring of the changes with a view of providing an early warning for which negative impacts can be reduced. The starting point in environmental impact assessment is to develop a baseline data upon which changes in various environmental parameters can be deciphered. The entry point is land use and land cover analysis at farm and village level. The next is to scale up the village level analysis into landscape level. Methodologies used combine ground surveys, remote sensing analysis to produce land use and land cover maps at different scales, reconstruction of historical changes from the communities using questionnaires and an assessment of changes in natural resources from GPS referenced plots. Results include maps of land use and land cover, distribution of natural resources, temporal variations in various environmental and socio-economic parameters in the surrounding areas. Information from these analyses will be used to increase awareness among the farmers and extension officers on the environmental effects of land use changes and how the affects could be monitored to reduce negative impacts. (Résumé d'auteur