ICRISAT Archival Report 2006 - The seedlings of success in the ...

afford. Another constraint to rehabilitation of degraded lands by tree planting and pasture production is protection
of the land being reclaimed from livestock grazing, especially if it is communally owned.
• Many of the technologies implemented have great potential to arrest land degradation and biodiversity loss in the
Desert Margins of sub-Saharan Africa. However, larger scale up-scaling of these technologies will necessitate
influencing policy in the respective countries, which will be the main thrust of project implementation in DMP
Phase 3.
Capacity of stakeholders and target populations enhanced (capacity building)
Initiatives undertaken in 2005 at project sites were planned to encourage the development of (as opposed to the
modification of) new rural enterprise and livelihood ventures. Both Kenya and Burkina Faso have begun to promote
alternative rural enterprise, by making rural credit available to provide seed finance for new ventures, renewable
sources of energy for rural initiatives, and business development support for new enterprises. In Senegal activities
focused on the domestication of wild fruit, for commercialization.
Over the last year a range of capacity building activities have been undertaken with DMP stakeholders. Training
needs were first assessed and prioritized in order to tailor training activities to users’ needs. For example, ICRAF is
finalizing their report on a workshop entitled ‘Agroforestry in the Sahel: present status, needs and perspectives’
during which training needs were identified in close consultation with the major players in West and Central Africa.
CIRAD has circulated a survey questionnaire to all DMP partners asking about their training needs in terms of
capacity/governance building for Natural Resource Management. The focus will be on environmental, socioeconomic
and policy evaluation. This will strengthen local capacity for evaluating NRM options and policies, and
for devising policy scenarios. This would also strengthen the capacity of NARS scientists to estimate the economic
impact of a given technology and fine-tune their interventions accordingly.
Since Phase II focused on technology dissemination, TSBF-CIAT/AfNET, in collaboration with DMP, organized a
training workshop to create awareness and develop researchers’ skills in farmer-participatory research and scalingup
of promising innovations. DMP partners from Burkina Faso, Kenya, Niger, Senegal, South Africa and Zimbabwe
attended. Partners from Burkina Faso, Kenya, Niger and Senegal also participated in a training workshop on
‘Assessing crop production, nutrient management, climatic risk and environmental sustainability with simulation
models’. They familiarized themselves with DSSAT (Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer), a
comprehensive computer model for the simulation of crop growth and yield and plant water, nutrient and carbon
dynamics. IFDC organized a training workshop for 350 pilot-farmers and 50 national extension agents from Burkina
Faso on large-scale dissemination of Integrated Soil Fertility Management technologies. Another IFDC workshop on
‘CASE’ and technical options for cropland forage production was attended by 50 participants in Burkina Faso.
CASE promotes commodity chain development and the agro-input sector. DMP-Niger scientists took part in a
training course on monitoring and impact studies of projects in Segou, Mali.
In the area of postgraduate training, students from the University of Niamey worked on their MSc theses on
documentation of indigenous knowledge of livestock genetic diversity in south-western Niger under the supervision
of DMP-ILRI scientists.
DMP has also undertaken in-country and cross-country training activities. Scientists from South Africa attended a
training workshop in Namibia, organized by the DMP-Namibia. They acquired hands-on experience of the FIRM
(Forum for Integrated Resource Management) and the Local Level Monitoring (LLM) programs that are used by the
DMP in Namibia. A PhD student from DMP South Africa visited Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Senegal to
document and evaluate restoration and NRM technologies in these countries. DMP South Africa also supported
training and capacity building workshops for farmers and the youth of formerly disadvantaged schools in the Mier
target area in the Kahalari. In addition small livestock breeding and management training courses were given to
farmers and land users in the Mier region. DMP South Africa has developed a training manual for production of
organic Rooibos seedlings. Through training (technical and institution-building) at grassroots level, the capacity of
resource users and service providers to sustainably manage their natural resources was enhanced. In Mali several
women were trained in tree grafting and management of nurseries. In Burkina Faso, 48 farmers from 15 villages in
the department of Banh were trained in grafting and production of Pomme du Sahel” and in the use of drip
irrigation. In Senegal producers were trained in the techniques of grafting Ziziphus mauritania. In Niger, tourist
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