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Mixed farming systems
Mixed farming is a traditional practice that has
evolved over a long time in farming communities
throughout East Africa’s mountainous areas. The
practice involves a combination of crops and
livestock on the same farm unit. It also includes
other forms of crop and livestock integration
systems such as intercropping management, which
are meant to promote diversified farm income and
land husbandry, and maximize productivity per
unit area, as well as improve soil erosion control and
nutrient management. The practice also enhances
food security and marketing opportunities, which, in
turn, improve household incomes.
Restoration of pasture for communal
grazing and fodder management
The restoration of degraded lands in livestock grazing
communities, and in crop farming communities,
is an important intervention for the sustainability
of fragile land resources in mountainous regions.
In many areas, communities have abandoned their
land due to severe degradation, but after many years
these lands have been able to recover. Consequently,
many communities are beginning to adopt initiatives
to restore degraded land. It is important for the
government and other institutions to identify and
collaborate with such communities to achieve a
faster rate of a landscape recovery and restoration,
especially in mountainous areas.
The Humbo community in south-western Ethiopia,
for example, obtains restored degraded grazing
areas and farmlands by setting aside land for natural
regeneration. The community is part of the Natural
Regeneration Project, registered with the Clean
Development Mechanism, which supports forest
regeneration by using a variety of tree species through
the Farmer-Managed Natural Forest Regeneration
technique. As a result, more than 90 per cent of the
area devoted to the Humbo community has been
reforested. The initiative has resulted in the recovery
of 2,728 ha of land (UNEP, 2014).
Another example is that of the Kuwalla community
in northern Ethiopia’s Amhara region. While
many communities in the Ethiopian Highlands
permit open access pasture grazing, the Kuwalla
community uses a rotational grazing system to
manage its communal pasture. The community
developed the system after recognizing the negative
impacts of the open access system, which they had
practised until 1990. Severe soil erosion and gully
formation led to a loss of grazing land. The initiative
was led by traditional leaders, who mobilized their
communities and established rules and procedures
for restoration processes, and collaborated with
government agencies to secure support for the
enforcement of the rules. The intervention helped
to reduce grazing pressure and enabled the pastures
to regenerate. This case study demonstrates that
effective community-based pasture management
can enable valuable fodder species to regenerate,
ensuring adequate species of feed for livestock,
particularly during critical times of the year (Kohler
et al., 2014).
Open Market in Kigali, Rwanda