Conservation farming on steep lands - USAid

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT 91
costs is a prudent means of securing their support and impressing upon
them the administrators' strong commitment to conscrvation.
b Pennit project flexibility, which will allow the project to adapt to new
knowledge during implementation. Project managers should I~rive the
authxity to amend piojects. Flexibility requires local control of projects.
Deliver information efficiently through extension. Successful implcmentation
requires ccmmitted extension agents who win the respect and
coopelation of the farmers. In Thailand, extension agents ir! the past came
from urban b;rckgrour.ds and had limited skills in extension. It was not
unusual for farmers' knowledge of traditional food aid cash crops to exceed
that of the agents (5), so their advice was rarely taken seriously (9).
The Mae Sa project in 1979 resorted to training village clites to extend conservation
<strong>farming</strong> techniques because of a lack of qualiried extension personnel
(15).
Try to reach poor farmers as well as "safe" farmers. To focus on
safe farmers or the most productive lands because they are most likely to
succeed will often increase rather than diminish gap!: in productivity ar.d
income in poor villages (I).
Maintenartce. <strong>Conservation</strong> methods sustain their effectiveness only if
maintained and supported in the long term by recipient farmers. This might
be secured through encouragement, education, and contractual agreements
(as a condition of receiving project assistance), or through payment or project
action.
Monitoring. Few agricultuml assistance projects with conservation compoiients
actually quantify the performance of their activities. More commonly,
projects assume that the conservation methods they implement will
reduce erosion and improve yields; this is a deficient means of evaluating
project success. Project:, should:
b Carefully monitor and rccord the progress of the project.
Monitor the effects of conservation activities on crop yields, soil fertility,
runoff, and erosion. Results of this monitoring can be used to improve
future projects or to correct weakr~esses in existing projects.
Correct harmful design cr construction flaws in conservation structures
and transmit improved agronomic advice to participating farmers.
REFERENCES
I. Bryant. Coralie, and Louise G. White. 1984. Managing ricml development brith small
j~nner panicipation. Kumarin Press, Wcst Hartford. Connecticut.
2. Dissmeyer, George E. 1982. Developir~g a USLE cover-mnanagement (C) factor pro-