AG R I C U LT U R E & RURAL DEVELOPMENT JOINTNOTES ISSUE 58 FEBRUARY 2012 From Degraded Pasturelands to 68000 Climate-Smart Livestock Production Systems in Northwest Cameroon DANILO A. PEZO,1 MUHAMMAD IBRAHIM,2 AJAGA NJI,3 JONATHAN AGWE,4 AND CHICK HERMAN AZAH5 The Tugi Silvopastoral Project (TUSIP) is a climate- in soil fertility and loss of soil cover that leaves the smart livestock and pasture management pilot land more prone to erosion. Pasture degradation is program that was introduced in the village of Tugi in characterized by the loss of edible forage species the Gutah Hills of the Northwest Region (NWR) of and its replacement by less palatable grasses Cameroon in January of 2010. TUSIP is a World Bank- and weeds. Patches of bare soil are observed in supported initiative of South-South Cooperation be- the pastures, and are easily eroded by rains. The tween the Tropical Agriculture Research and Higher incursion of pasture land into what little forest area Education Centre (CATIE) based in Costa Rica, and remains has led to substantial biodiversity loss, the Akwi Memorial Foundation, which is and to reductions in available water. Water quality an NGO based in the NWR. has also been adversely affected because animals Crop-livestock systems are the most prevalent are watered directly from the streams, damaging form of agricultural land use in the Gutah Hills of the existing vegetation and soils in the adjacent Cameroon. Livestock production is one of the main riparian forest as well. This pattern of land use has livelihood strategies used by families living in the also increased emissions of greenhouse gases and area, and throughout the larger NWR enabling them severely diminished the volume of carbon that is to accumulate assets and capital that can be crucial sequestered in local soils and biomass. in ensuring the survival of their households in times Poor pasture management is moreover a source of of crisis. Livestock also provides a major pathway frequent conflict between pastoralists and farm- through which poor rural families can improve their ers because animals invade croplands in search of incomes and social status. However, the combined food they cannot find in the overgrazed, degraded threats of food insecurity, under-nutrition, poor health conditions, and climate change subject these pastures, particularly during the dry season. communities to serious stress, limiting their ability to cope with each respective threat and undermining efforts to reduce poverty. Livestock in the NWR is managed using traditional technologies in an extensive agro-pastoral system that regularly encroaches on fragile and protected areas. These traditional technologies and AKWI MEMORIAL FOUNDATION practices are markedly unsustainable, and entail Dedicated to Touching Lives, Fighting Poverty poor integration of crops, trees, and livestock. They include the use of fire to control weeds and external parasites in cattle as well as to eliminate residues and the over-matured grasses that are less nutritious for animals. Combined with a continual increase in stocking rates over time, these practices have resulted in widespread decline Source: Authors. HOW PASTURE DEGRADATION AFFECTS STRATEGIES FOR THE REHABILITATION CROP-LIVESTOCK FARMERS OF DEGRADED PASTURES Livestock animals become less productive on degraded The majority of the grazing land in Tugi and the rest of the pastures, with stocking rates between 0.5 - 0.7 animal units Gutah Hills is currently classified as severely degraded - less per hectare.6 Cattle take between six and seven years to than 40 percent of the available plants consist of edible reach market weight, compared to cattle raised in healthy species. The generally prescribed course of replacing stand- pasture, which typically take between three and four years. ing vegetation in its entirety before planting new seeds is This loss in animal productivity leads to substantially less untenable in the Gutah Hills owing to the sloping topogra- income and to lower rates of capital turnover for produc- phy and torrential seasonal rainfalls that are characteristic of ers. Producers are less able to manage risks on degraded the area. These make the prevention of soil loss through the pastures, and are more vulnerable to the impacts of severe maintenance of groundcover a practical imperative. The area droughts or floods. Degraded pastures also lead to more also lacks machinery for land preparation, and extremely transhumance—seasonal migration between different labor intensive hand weeding using a cutlass is required to areas—forcing younger family members to periodically leave reduce weeds that compete with forage plants. their households for longer periods to bring their cattle and A very different pasture rehabilitation strategy is therefore small ruminants to areas where they can feed. recommended, one based on principles of restoration ecol- ogy that purposefully minimize soil disturbance. Seeds and OTHER FACTORS LIMITING LIVESTOCK vegetative materials can be planted in the empty spaces left DEVELOPMENT IN THE GUTAH HILLS after removing weeds or where there is already bare soil, Access to markets is an additional limiting factor in the with minimal disturbance to topsoil. These types of mea- Gutah Hills. Because the local cattle market at Acha-Tugi sures will be instrumental in reducing the costs of pasture has no weighing scale, prices are negotiated based on rehabilitation. animals’ appearance rather than on their body weight. Farmers negotiate the price of each animal individually. While protecting soils from erosion is a practical impera- The middlemen who purchase the cattle take them to tive, the most important measures for ensuring successful larger markets such as the one in the provincial center of pasture rehabilitation involve preventing animals from de- Bamenda, where they are able to capture a significantly foliating edible grasses – both regrowth of existing grasses higher proportion of the margin than the producers they and newly planted grasses. Optimally, this is achieved by buy the animals from. Pastoralists who raise cattle also installing fences around the perimeters of fallow areas. face a serious risk in the form of cattle rustling and the The fences remain in place after the area returns to produc- possibility that their best animals—or even their entire tion in order to create a rotational system of grazing areas. herd—may be stolen in a single night. Poor roads and , Unfortunately, the cost of fencing is quite high. In TUSIP the the high costs of transporting animals to markets affect cost of a durable dead fence line was estimated at 107 ,000 livestock producers in general, but smallholders who rely Central African CFA francs (about US$215) per 100 meters – more on small ruminants tend to be disproportionately or $890 per hectare.7 This cost is well beyond the means of affected. The effects of these shortcomings on profits many livestock farmers in the NWR and seriously compro- combine to undermine the incentives for producers to mises the economic feasibility of this sort of intervention. invest resources in improving production systems. Financial analysis suggests that combined with other costs associated with rehabilitation, the cost of fencing would not Access to technology information and services is another be covered by the projected increase in the value of beef limiting factor, one that is exacerbated by the lack of production (at least not within the 12 year period used in the farmers’ organizations and the limited presence of analysis). Among these other costs of rehabilitation is the government officials and extension agents at the village opportunity cost of foregone income from removing areas level. There is only one Veterinary Technical Assistant (VTA) from production for about one year – a measure that is es- based in Tugi, and his sole responsibility is to administer sential to restoring areas under rehabilitation. Finally, when vaccinations to prevent transmissible diseases. The VTA a given area is excluded from grazing, the carrying capacity offers farmers no practical recommendations or advice of the surrounding pasture is proportionately reduced. To on pasture and natural resources management, feeding, prevent overgrazing on these areas, two general options breeding, or other technical issues. are available. The first is to sell off a number of animals to 2 TABLE 1. Potential Effects of Pasture Rehabilitation, with and without the Use of Fodder Banks, on Livestock Productivity, Methane Emission, and Nitrogen Excretion in Tugi Village Pasture/Feeding Strategy Parameter Rehabilitated + Degraded Rehabilitated Cut & Carry Stocking rate, animals/ha 0.50 1.75 2.00 Time required to reach 400 kg body weight, years 6.3 4.3 3.6 Average live weight gain from 200 to 400 kg, kg/day 0.185 0.287 0.495 Beef production per hectare from 200 to 400 kg, kg/ha/year 33.7 183.1 361.1 Animals between 200-400 kg body weight Methane emission, kg/animal/period 118.1 105.3 90.4 Manure excretion, kg/animal/period 2201 1839 1368 Total nitrogen excreted, kg/animal/period 67.5 60.4 48.0 provide up-front income to cover the costs of rehabilitation. Tugi, with and without the use of fodder banks to comple- The second is to precede rehabilitation with the establish- ment grazing. ment of a fodder bank to complement grazing. While fodder banks require additional investment, the level of intensifica- The availability of funds for investing in pasture rehabilita- tion they make possible would make such interventions tion is the most significant constraint for livestock farmers economically feasible in the long run. in the Gutah Hills; therefore potential options to ease this are required. Given that fencing is the largest component of In addition to providing for higher carrying capacity and the total investment cost, subsidizing at least 50 percent of improved animal nutrition (and weight gain), rehabilitated the costs of fence installation is proposed as a viable option pastures also benefit the environment. Animals that graze (Table 2). Such a subsidy can be arranged in a number of on rehabilitated pastures emit less methane and excrete ways. Providing cash to pay for the purchase of fencing ma- less nitrogen than animals that graze on degraded pas- terials is one possibility. However, providing materials such tures. Many of the improvements that are brought about as barbed wire might be a better way to ensure that good by rehabilitation can be measurably enhanced through quality materials are used. Another possibility is to link the “semi-zero grazing�- in which animals remain in enclosures subsidy to the planting of trees that protect water sources. but are periodically let out to graze. Rehabilitated pastures Another is to provide credits with a subsidized rate of no can also be highly effective carbon sinks, particularly where more than 7 percent. Such credits would however only work tree plantations are planted or secondary forests are al- if pasture rehabilitation is accompanied by planting fodder lowed to grow in areas formerly used for grazing. Table 1 banks, in which case permitting grace periods on the loans presents the expected effects of pasture rehabilitation in is recommended. TABLE 2. Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) for Rehabilitation of Degraded Pastures and Use of Fodder Banks with Native Cattle in Tugi Village 50% Fencing 100% Fencing No Subsidies Costs Subsidized Costs Subsidized Scenarios NPV, US$ IRR, % NPV, US$ IRR, % NPV, US$ IRR, % Animals between 200 - 400 kg Degraded vs. rehabilitated pastures (- 488.99) (- 2.95) (- 77.46) 5.50 334.06 30.68 Degraded vs. rehabilitated pastures 92.77 9.09 524.87 15.71 936.39 26.65 + fodder bank 3 The environmental benefits of those incentives. Policing will be pasture rehabilitation are them- more effective with the active selves a powerful justification support of community or farmer for policies that are oriented organizations. Branding, tattoo- towards improving incentives. ing, and other forms of animal These benefits include not only identification are very effective in pronounced improvements in soil identifying stolen animals. and water quality and availability and reductions in methane and Improving marketing options. nitrous oxide emissions, but also The purchase of animals is the prevention of pasture expan- Source: Authors. usually directly negotiated in the sion into forest relicts. cattle market, but most of the time farmers do not get the right price because animals OTHER MEASURES TO ENCOURAGE THE are sold based on body appearance instead of controlled ADOPTION OF PASTURE REHABILITATION weight. The municipalities own the cattle markets and STRATEGIES charge a small fee to farmers who bring animals, and they Strengthening knowledge sharing mechanisms. could increase the fee to cover the cost of a scale to check Cameroon’s extension services have limited presence in each animal’s weight to ensure that owners get a fair price the Gutah Hills. In areas where these services are avail- for their animals. able, extension workers lack awareness about pasture degradation, or technical knowledge about how to reha- Promoting livestock farmers’ organizations. Pasto- bilitate degraded pastures. The knowledge accumulated ralists in the Gutah Hills operate individually and many through the experience of the TUSIP should be valuable have small herds, with little access to technology, market in filling in this information gap, although its usefulness information, or government services. While their relative relies on its dissemination. The establishment of farmer isolation from one another has militated against combining field schools has been used to effectively transmit this into groups that may be able to buy inputs and process type of information and to apply it directly to participa- and sell products at more favorable prices, a number of lo- tory training and experimentation programs for farmers cal cultural groups could potentially be instrumental in this themselves. These are likely to be more effective in areas capacity. Local authorities could play an important role in where farmers’ groups already exist. This type of training encouraging such a development. If a substantial number initiative would need to be led by extension staff who are of smaller pastoralists is able to organize into producer well-versed in participatory methods and silvo-pastoral groups, these groups would be more effective if they did techniques such as those promoted by TUSIP . not limit their purpose to primary production alone, but to Preventing cattle rustling. Investment in surveillance to agri-business development that would add value to their prevent rustling activities is an important area in which to production. Processing quality dry meat products and improve incentives for pasture rehabilitation by directly ad- arranging their sale in larger markets is one immediate op- dressing a serious source of risk that currently undercuts tion for cattle farmers in particular. 1 TUSIP Technical Adviser, Livestock and Environment Program, CATIE, Costa Rica. E-mail: dpezo@catie.ac.cr 2 Leader, Livestock and Environment Program, CATIE, Costa Rica. E-mail: mibrahim@catie.ac.cr 3 TUSIP Project Leader, President and Founder Akwi Memorial Foundation, Bamenda, Cameroon. E-mail: ajaga.nji@akwimemorial.org 4 , TUSIP The World Bank Task Team Leader- E-mail: Jagwe@worldbank.org 5 TUSIP Research Assistant, Akwi Memorial Foundation, Bamenda, Cameroon. E-mail: chick_azah@yahoo.co-uk 6 Animal Unit (AU) = A bovine weighing at least 400 kg. 7 , The Tugi Silvopastoral Project is a south-south technology transfer collaborative project between CATIE, AMF and the World Bank. 1818 H Street. NW Washington, DC 20433 www.worldbank.org/ard