Development of an improved method for soil and water conservation planning at catchment scale in the East African Higlands : Progress Report 1 jan - 30 sep 2002

Abstract

The overall goal of the EROAHI Project is to improve the Catchment Approach, a methodology for participatory soil conservation planning currently applied in the East African Highlands Eco-region. Anticipated improvements are: semi-quantification of soil and productivity loss using farmers’ knowledge, simple ex ante economic cost-benefit analysis of proposed scenarios and moving up the SWC planning from farm level to catchment scale. The project goal is to be achieved by realising the following objectives (EROAHI Management Document 1, 2000): To develop field-scale indicators of erosion and sedimentation based on indigenous knowledge of soil and vegetation characteristics; 1. To attach quantitative values of erosion, sedimentation and/or productivity to the developed indicators, based on field scale measurements; 2. To quantify erosion, sedimentation and soil productivity at catchment scale using the developed indicators and compare the estimates with a detailed model study to develop simple 'rules of thumb' for erosion assessment; 3. To develop a methodology for economic impact assessment of planned soil and water conservation measures at farm level; 4. To further develop a specific methodology for catchment scale soil and water conservation planning in the East African Highlands using a participatory approach