African Water Development Report 2006 - United Nations Economic ...

African Water Development Report 2006Table16.1: Best Practices on Indigenous Knowledge (IFAD supported projects)Type of InterventionSoil and waterconservation (SWC)techniques and cultivationpracticesDynamics in IndigenousKnowledge:innovation in landhusbandry in EthiopiaIndigenous KnowledgeIndigenous techniques ofsoil and water conservation,like rows of stonesand traditional plantingpits (tassa) to rehabilitatedegraded plateausRiverside wall locallyknown as seytan madewa(devil’s tie) using the forceof the river’s own waterto press one stone againstthe other and, in effect, to‘tie them together’In 1994 - a year withenough rain - the milletyield was 296 kg/hawithout intervention. Withthe SWC technique andmanure, the yield was 969kg/ha. Adding fertilizerbrought the yield to 1486kg/ha.The practice of placingstones in the devil’s tiebelow dams and buildingriverside walls has spreadthroughout the neighbourhoodareasCountry/ParnerMaliChris ReijVrije Universiteit AmsterdamTigray Region of EthiopiaFetien AbayISWC Ethiopia CoordinatorMekelle University CollegeP.O. Box 231, MekelleTigrayEthiopiaA semi-quantitativespatial assessment ofwater erosion basedon limited informationusing expert knowledgeand real-valuedobservationsThe hypothesis is thatlocal people have an institutionalizedmemory ofthe hazard of soil erosionunder various land-usesystems. Local expertsshow remarkable consistencyand accuracy in theirassessments of erosionhazard which can be usedto prevent the naturalresources degradation• Soil erosion can beassessed on the basis ofrelatively little data.•By combining “scientific”and indigenous assessmentsof soil erosion,it is possible to makean adequate diagnosisof the erosion hazardin areas where data islacking but quick actionis required.EthiopiaIr. B.G.J.S. SonneveldVrije Universiteit AmsterdamFaculty of Economic Sciencesand EconometricsCentre for World FoodStudies302