Title: TFAP Forestry Sector Review in Ethiopia

Project number: B 7-5041/92.03/VIII

Amount: 79.160 ECU (addendum n°1) initial amount: 50.228 ECU

Contractor: Hunting Technical Services Ltd (UK)

Field: Forestry in land use land-use planning, farm forestry extension, livestock/fodder, soil/water conservation

Country: Ethiopia

Date of signature: 14/09/92 + addendum n°1 du 13/01/1993

Duration: 4,5 months (addendum n°1 of 13/01/1993)

Objectives:

To follow up of a series of studies (Group I Consultants funded by EC) which were executed within the framework of the Ethiopian Forestry Action Plan (EFAP) exercise (funded by a variety of agencies (WB, UNDP, FAO, SIDA, GTZ etc.).

Background: This exercise had to provide advice to the Ethiopian Forestry Action Plan (EFAP) working group concerned with the forestry role in soil and watershed conservation and agricultural development. The specific tasks concerned 4 sector:

1. Land use planning (review current state of land-use practices, identification of constraints, development of criteria/guidelines, quantify investment projects)
2. Farm forestry (review existing indigenous integrated agriculture-forestry systems, including minor activities, assess the potential and constraints and develop an appropriate system which integrate forestry into agriculture for the various social and ecological regions of the country, identify and quantify development/investment projects, prioritise these projects and prepare a set of project briefs for them).
3. Livestock/Fodder (review data and information on livestock, grazing resources including tree/fodder species, grazing systems and grazing capacities and livestock pressure; study the overall livestock production system in relation to forestry; identify, quantify and prioritise development investment projects).
4. Soil-water conservation (asses existing soil and watershed conservation strategies and evaluate forestry impact on soil degradation, water erosion, loss of fertility etc.; identify, quantify and prioritise these projects).

This project concerns the third Phase of EFAP that consists to prepare of the draft main EFAP report, building on the outputs of the first two phases. The main report is organised as follows:

• Vol 1: Executive Summary;
• Vol 2 Summary of Forestry Policy and Institutional Reform
• Vol 3 A/ Forestry and Economic Development; B/ Forestry land Use and Agricultural Development; C/Forestry and Energy Development.
• Vol 4 A/ Policy and Institutional Development; B/Primary Development Programs; C/Supportive Development Programs;
• Vol 5 EFAP-The Process

Activities:

The core team of expert is expected to include the key areas of expertise including land use planning, forestry management and forest economics.

M. Brunt , land use planning specialist and team leader is responsible for the following tasks:

1. under the guidance of the world bank task manager, lead the consultant team in preparing Vols 1-4 of the main report and their associated annexes.
2. be directly responsible for preparing volumes 1-4 of the main report and their associated annexes (parts A and C which relate to forestry extension, land use planning and soil and water conservation);
3. assist the World Bank Task manager , in the completion of the draft main Report.

Results expected:

Draft main EFAP report building on the outputs of the first two phases and present the final report to the Ethiopian Government in Addis Ababa.

Beneficiaries:

• National co-ordinator and other member of the review mission
• International and national NGOs
• National Government

Implementation Strategy:

Core team of consultants (land use planner, Forest economist, Forest management and Development, Agroforestry) earlier involved in Phase 2, under the guidance of World Bank task management and with the involvement of the EFAP National Co-ordinator.

The final report runs to several volumes:

1. Farm forestry
2. Soil and water conservation
3. Livestock & fodder production
4. Land use planning
5. Review of draft EFAP action programmes in farm forestry
6. Executive summary: a synthesis of the EFAP
7. Background paper n°5
8. Draft final report of ecosystems specialists

Conclusions:

• The forestry aspect of rural development cannot be dealt with effectively in isolation. An integrated approach(agriculture, forestry and livestock production should therefore be adopted;
• There have been many land use planning programmes in Ethiopia, most have been largely ineffective at both strategic and farm level;
• past extension initiatives have mostly been "top down", and programmes have tended to be discrete, with emphasis on crop production, farm forestry and/or soil conservation as separate operations;
• The country cannot afford to have parallel extension operations for agriculture, soil conservation, farm forestry and livestock and fodder production;
• The lack of policies and uncertainty regarding land tenure have been major constraints to progress.

Recommendations:

• The formulation and official endorsements of appropriate sub-sector policies, and resolution of land tenure issue, leading to individual rights of tenure;
• A high level strategic land use planning unit;
• If decentralisation is pursued, a provision for strategic land use planning would almost certainly be required in each of the regions, which will raise problems about he relationship between the Central and regional Units;
• Community level participatory planning of land use, involving Peasant Associations or their equivalents;
• A community development fund to provide incentives to farmers, to help them adopt improved land management technologies, which are not in the first years financially attractive to those farmers adopting them;
• The support of a unified or integrated extension service. Subject matters specialists in crop production, community forestry, soil conservation and livestock and fodder production would provide the Development Agent with appropriate messages in these subjects at different times of the year. Such a structure would be progressively introduced throughout Ethiopia;
• Where private sector activities can be encouraged, this would be done.