The CAADP Pillar I Framework

cuttings, zaï, half moons and rock bundles. These lands are now crop and grasslands. Theland management projects have an internal rate of return that is above 30 percent.Conservation agriculture aims to restore, sustain and enhance agricultural productionthrough the integrated management of locally available soil, water and biological resources,combined as required with cost-effective use of external inputs. It is a holistic approach toagricultural production based on enhancing natural soil biological regeneration processesinvolving: (i) improved soil organic matter management for the efficient use of rainfall, soilmoisture and plant nutrients; and (ii) the maintenance of soil physical properties by keepingmechanical tillage to the absolute minimum required for direct planting/seeding. Thefollowing inter-related criteria distinguish conservation agriculture from conventionalagricultural systems: (i) reduced or zero tillage; (ii) permanent soil cover (plant residuesand/or cover crops); (iii) crop rotation; and (iv) minimum in-field traffic. The approach hasbeen widely adopted by farmers in Latin America, North America, Australasia and CentralAsia. Although not yet widely adopted within Africa, the area under conservation agricultureis expanding in South Africa, Zambia, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Madagascar, where it isknown as systeme de couverture vegetale. The approach is also being piloted in BurkinaFaso, Niger and Mali. In Cameroon, conversation agriculture has allowed for:• A 20 percent increase in the output of cotton and 15 percent increase in theoutput of sorghum;• Less working time and higher incomes; and• A carbon fixation per hectare that grew from 500kg to 2 tonnes per yearduring 10 years.Integrated plant and pest management (IPPM) has evolved from a single crop-pest focus tomore comprehensive efforts that combine investigations into various production relatedproblems and includes a variety of focus areas ranging from integrated pest management tointegrated plant nutrient management. The emphasis is on providing farmers with the skillsrequired to grow healthy crops. Recently, programmes have expanded the range of cropscovered to include staple food crops such as bananas and cassava and to consider widersocial and cultural factors (nutrition, HIV/AIDS, labour, business skills and marketing). Thefarmer field school approach is the principle vehicle for farmer learning and adaptive IPPMmanagement. A dozen African countries – Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya,Mali, Niger, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia and Zimbabwe – have developed countryspecificrecommended plant nutrient practices using guidelines from the FAO IPNMInformation System.3.2.2 Pastoral and livestock managementIntegrated crop-livestock farming systems have been promoted in the Sahel region usingcommunity-based approaches, leading to improved cycling of nutrients between range-landsand cropland and ruminant livestock and soils.Opportunistic management strategies by pastoral communities 9 have developed in responseto uncertainties over rainfall and feed availability in arid and semi-arid environments. Duringdrought periods this may involve: (i) long distance transport of animals to feed-surplus areas(trekking, truck transport, etc); (ii) feed supplementation (lopping, hay-making, concentratepurchases, etc); (iii) cereal stores to prevent needless distress livestock sales; (iv) goodanimal health care as livestock die more of disease than starvation during drought; (v)diversification or changes in the species composition of the family herd; and (vi)supplementation or diversification of income from non-animal based livelihoods. Afterdrought, this may include: i) investment/re-investment of surpluses from other activities inlivestock (especially small stock with high reproductive rates), and ii) transfers of animalswithin social networks (whether kinship based or with stock associates) on which individualshave legitimate claims. Furthermore, grazing strategies that improve range productivity and9 For a detailed review of new directions in pastoral development in Africa, see Scoones 1995.27