Dairy subsector of the agropastoral household economy

Reports findings from a study of spheres of influence of men & women, esp. as they affect the dairy subsector, in Fulani agropastoral households in Nigeria; with particular reference to decision making & control over herd management; milking; allocation & utilisation of milk; milk processing & marketing; household income from milk sale; womens' household expenditure and investment in agropastoral production. Analyses implications of these for development of dairy production

Participatory process of developing performance indicators in a global partnership programme: the case of PROLINNOVA

Programme monitoring and evaluation (M&E) presents a lot of challenges, especially when one adds to this process the dimensions of participation, partnership and learning. Then, the whole process becomes much more complicated. The PROLINNOVA M&E is a shared evolving process continuously sharpened to meet the needs of the partnership. This paper describes a specific part of that process, the development of performance indicators for the PROLINNOVA programme. The start-up process, already, has offered many insights in terms of creating a balance between the PROLINNOVA programme accountability and partners’ autonomy in decision-making and action. Side by side with creating shared ownership of the M&E system is the importance of the partners’ roles and responsibilities in making the system work

Settlement and land use by Fulani pastoralists in case study areas

Presents results of studies of settlement, land use & relations w. settled farmers of Fulani agropastoralists in Abet & Kachia Grazing Reserve in Subhumid Nigeria. Discusses reasons of choice of site, pattern & right of grazing and access to land

Review of the Norwegian Development Fund Portfolio in Ethiopia

This report reviews the Ethiopian portfolio of the Development Fund (DF), a Norwegian NGO, which has evolved from supporting relief work by one Tigrayan organisation in the 1980s to supporting ten projects with several organisations in Tigray and Afar Regions and networking with other organisations in Ethiopia and beyond. The portfolio focuses on socio-economic development to alleviate poverty and increase food security, primarily through agriculture, and on natural resource management in dryland areas, including maintenance of biodiversity. The DF is giving growing attention to strengthening civil society and pastoral livelihood development. The portfolio has been managed in a satisfactory way through good communication and regular monitoring visits. The partnership model, built on mutual trust, involves considerable delegation of managerial responsibility to Ethiopian partners. This model is probably cost effective, although it involves certain risks. On the whole, the resources provided through the DF have been used efficiently to achieve the objectives. The DF’s participatory approach helps anchor projects in local communities and provides space for dialogue and mutual influence. By promoting local ownership of the projects, a basis is laid for successful and cost-effective implementation and long-term sustainability. The DF is involved in several networks, the most important ones for the Ethiopian portfolio being the Dryland Co-ordination Group (DCG) and the Triangular Institutional Cooperation Project. Much of the DF partners’ work focuses on empowering women in economic, social and political terms. The DF is broadening its range of partners to include NGOs in different ethnic and geographical contexts. It wants to support government decentralisation and to create synergies with traditional governance institutions, especially in pastoral societies. There is a need for more dialogue with partners about this strategy and about addressing human-rights issues in the specific context of Ethiopia

Population and land use in the subhumid zone of Nigeria

Presents an overview of population and land use characteristics of the Kurmin Biri, Abet and Ganawwi areas, all in the subhumid zone of Nigeria, with particular reference to ethnic composition, human & cattle population, cultivation densities and extent of fallow land

TOWARDS A FARMER-GOVERNED APPROACH TO AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH FOR DEVELOPMENT: LESSONS FROM INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCES WITH LOCAL INNOVATION SUPPORT FUNDS

International audienceNovel mechanisms for funding agricultural research for development (ARD) are emerging which strive to give smallholders a central role in deciding what types of innovation they want to explore and develop and how to do this. This paper reports on international experiences with one such mechanism, the Local Innovation Support Fund (LISF), which is being piloted in eight countries across Asia and Africa under the umbrella of the PROLINNOVA international partnership programme. The ways of setting up the LISFs vary greatly between countries, in response to country-specific conditions, experiences and opportunities, but all share certain structural elements: ensuring farmers' effective control over fund governance; making calls for proposals that farmers can easily understand and respond to; developing and applying effective screening criteria; and monitoring and evaluating systematically how the funds are used, the outcomes of the work and the impacts on farmers' lives, including their ability to influence ARD decision-making. After presenting the general rationale for the LISF pilot, the paper examines the diverse results obtained across countries in terms of structure and process of grant administration; number, size and types of grants; thematic foci; monitoring and impact assessment. Some critical issues are discussed: the importance of understanding concepts and its implications for LISF implementation, the purposes for which farmers use the funds, the pros and cons of supporting farmers' own experimentation versus farmer-led joint experimentation, and the perspectives for sustainability and scaling-up of the LISF approach within and beyond the eight countries in which it has been piloted

Developing a Glossary of People-Focused Terms Related to Rangelands and Grasslands

Excellent glossaries on rangelands and grasslands have been developed by the Society for Range Management (SRM), the International Grassland Congress (IGC) and the International Rangeland Congress (IRC). However, these are largely confined to biophysical and technical terminology and contain very few concepts referring to social, institutional and policy aspects of using rangelands and grasslands. After the 10th IRC in Saskatoon, Canada, in 2016, an informal group started to develop a glossary of such “people-focused” terms. The short and non-academic definitions are meant to improve communication and understanding by users/practitioners in rangeland and grassland management, policymakers, teachers, students, journalists and the general public. The glossary focuses on terms in common international use in rangeland management and includes terminology referring to rangelands/grasslands users (e.g. pastoralists, agropastoralists, hunters and gatherers) and to how they organise the use and management of rangeland resources (e.g. common property rights, resource access rights, herding contracts, transhumance and other forms of mobility). More general terms in social sciences are not included, as the debates about their meanings are well covered in the conventional social science literature. Thus far, the glossary is in English only. It is hoped that people working on rangelands and pastoralism in other countries will translate it into other languages and adapt it with area- and language-specific terminology. The definitions in the glossary are intended to fill an existing gap relatively quickly. Previous experience of the SRM, IRC and IGC showed that developing a comprehensive glossary takes several years. The current version of the glossary will doubtless be revised when a more systematic effort is made to define socio-institutional terms related to rangelands and grasslands. In any case, further revisions will be made as concepts evolve and new ones arise, as was the case with the technical glossaries of the SRM, IGC and IRC