One of the eight MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. FAO focuses on poverty and hunger reduction through a “twin-track” approach: improving agricultural productivity and promoting better nutritional practices at all levels; and promoting programmes that enhance direct and immediate access to food by the neediest. Improvements in the productivity of agriculture and related sectors directly increase farm and rural incomes and household food security. At the same time, agricultural growth focused on small farmers promotes overall rural and non-farm employment and has a strong poverty-reducing effect. By facilitating better access to new skills, tools and services FAO helps the rural poor to make lasting improvements in their own LIVELIHOODS.

The FAO Grassland and Pasture/Crop Systems Group both through its Regular Programme activities and a number of field projects is working to assist smallholder farmers and herders to improve their livelihoods. Some examples include:

SMALL FARMERS: -

(i) TCP/NEP/2901 (A) - Capacity Building for Fodder Oat Technologies in Nepal

Objectives: The main objective of the project was through training to build the necessary technical capacity in fodder oats (and accompanying forage legumes) technology so that better multi-cut oat cultivars were identified, management packages were prepared and demonstrated on farmers’ fields, seed supply was assured through local production, more livestock feed was available particularly during the critical winter period and poor farmer livelihoods were improved.

This was a very successful project with direct impact on farm family livelihoods.

Beyond the outputs were the important OUTCOMES of the project. After only 2 years did the project have any measurable impact on poor farmers’ livelihoods? As well as introducing new technologies and the very comprehensive training programme the project carried out a survey among the cooperating farmers. Initial results showed that the net additional income of participating farmers using fodder oats for winter feeding was NRs 1,400-2,010* per month per buffalo (per farmer) with an additional 2 litres of milk per day. Costs of concentrate inputs were reduced by 50% because of the availability of good quality green feed. Where small bag silage (an additional simple technology that was added to the project and which farmers have quickly adopted) was used in the diet this was shown to give a net profit of NRs 1,350 per animal per month.

[*71.95 Nepal Rupees = 1US$ in March 2005]

Many of the results of the project were reported in detail in the “Proceedings of the Workshop on Fodder Oats, Fodder Technology Packages and Small Farm Income Generation” (ed. D. Pariyar, J. Suttie and S.G. Reynolds) held in Kathmandu, Nepal 8 - 11 March, 2005. and specifically in the paper by Pariyar entitled “Oat cultivation and small-bag silage for household income generation”.

(ii) TCP/FIJ/2901 (A) - Forage Based Smallholder Dairy Production in Fiji

Objectives:

Two of the project objectives focused on improving the food security, nutritional and economic status of low income rural families and increasing the total output of the rural economy by providing small farmers with a viable and profitable alternative to current agricultural practices.

The project assisted farmers to increase production/income by way of improved feeding, farm management, animal husbandry and milk handling. By increasing their output and milk quality a number of small farmers were able to become shareholder suppliers of the Dairy company, thus improving their income level and business security.

The project was expected to bring about substantial increases in farmers’ income levels, thus enabling them to take a significant step towards establishing small commercial business enterprises.

The project provided advice to farmers on alternative forage crops for different livestock systems, in order to improve the yield and quality of forage for their livestock, particularly for winter feed. Field days on "demonstration farms" and to other areas and cooperatives were expected to be an important training element. Silage making was less emphasized than originally planned and there was more emphasis on producer groups (that are sustainable with clear objectives, are market led and farmer managed) and focus was on key issues that were identified during participatory appraisals of farmer and rural community development needs, rather than on establishing cooperatives as originally foreseen.

The project has been very successsful and plans for follow up activities in other areas and countries in the region have been discussed and among the followup projects already underway is one in Kosovo and Montenegro: GCP/RER/019/LUX - "Development Assistance to Farmers in remote areas of Kosovo and Montenegro".

(iv) TCP/CPR/2907-3101 (A) – Fodder production and double cropping in Tibet

Among the expected benefits were improved livelihoods and food security for small farmers. Although it is too early to ascertain the impact of the project on farmers as participatory activities have yet to be fully implemented the project has laid some important foundations in terms of introducing fodder crops, double cropping and minimum tillage technologies.

Formulation of a Medium-Term Programme - at the conclusion of the project a Final Workshop was held for major stakeholders who contributed through participatory group and plenary sessions to the formulation of a Medium Term Plan to carry activities on double cropping for fodder production forward for the next five years. These contributions were consolidated and expanded in the form of a document entitled Contributions towards a Medium Term Plan so that the material can be utilized in terms of implementing the overall (new) Government 5-Year Plan for Tibet.

HERDERS: –

This project focused on an ancient transhumant system in Altai, Xinjiang, N.W. China where for centuries Kazakh herders have moved with their livestock from the low desert areas, where they winter, to the higher summer pastures for rich summer grazing, moving back down again as the days become shorter and colder. The main problem was the lack of winter feed. The abundance of water and areas of relatively flat land provided the base for an irrigation-based solution to the winter feed problem. A World Food Programme (WFP)and United Nations Development Programme/Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UNDP/FAO) project introduced winter bases with permanent housing and irrigated land for forages (mainly Lucerne - Medicago sativa) and cash crops.

After a visit to the project area and discussions with herders following the traditional transhumant system and herders with winter quarters and irrigated land for producing winter feed Reynolds (1998) provided some background to the Altai area in the paper “Kazak herders, winter feed and transhumant systems in Altai Prefecture, Xinjiang, China”. Reynolds (2001) also contrasted this system with a less sustainable system in the paper “Sustainable Development of Grassland Ecosystems: Two Case Studies from China”.

Chapter VI in “Transhumant Grazing Systems in Temperate Asia” (eds. J.M. Suttie and S.G. Reynolds, 2003) by Wan Ling Wang describes the transhumant system and the project interventions in considerable detail.

By 1997, some 6, 100 Kazakh households had been settled, and 32, 000 ha had been developed, providing 20, 000 ha of alfalfa (Medicago sativa) pasture. The average farm size is 3.7 to 4.3 ha, producing annually about 18, 000 kg of hay from 3 ha (with the remaining land utilized for wheat, maize, beet or sunflower) with a house for winter quarters for the family and for those who remain on the plains for haymaking in summer while the livestock are away on the summer pastures. Usually a proportion of the wheat, soybean and sometimes alfalfa are sold. Some farmers grow maize solely for making into silage. By 2000 some 46,700 ha of irrigated crop land had been established in Altai Prefecture with plans to establish another 20, 000 ha under the Ninth Five Year Plan.

A 1999/2000 study compared the socio-economic conditions of a group with winter bases (treatment group) and another of nomads (control group). Families with bases had far higher incomes, increasing herds, lower risks and good access to social services. Although alfalfa yields are still far below their potential, winter weight loss in sheep has been converted to weight gain; flocks are mated earlier and lambs ready to slaughter in their first year. Nomadic families had lower incomes, little access to services and own what they carry in their baggage train; their sheep still lose weight in winter and lamb late, so they are kept through a second summer.

Although there are some changes in the social structures, the project has successfully demonstrated the complementarity of mobile pastoralism and sedentary agro-pastoral development. However, signs of increasing pressure on the grasslands require careful monitoring for longer term change and additional studies into the evolving system are required. For example, because more animals are now carried through the winter there is additional pressure on spring and autumn pastures as well as summer grazing lands. Also, whether the benefits so far enjoyed by the "settled" Kazakh herders (who represent more than 15 percent of the Kazakhs who live in Altai Prefecture) can be enjoyed by those who still follow the traditional transhumant way of life year round is likely to depend on funding from the Government of China for an expansion of the irrigated areas.

Economic Comparison

Tables 1 & 2 show the differences between the two groups in terms of agricultural income and per capita income.

* In 1999 and 2000 1US$ was equivalent to approx. 8.28 RMB (Yuan Renminbi)

HERDERS AND FARMERS:-

TCP/MON/3103 (D) - Improving fodder production, conservation and processing for intensified milk and meat production in the central region of Mongolia

The objective of the project is to increase the quantity and quality of fodder available to market oriented livestock farmers in the Central region through the introduction of modern fodder production technologies, the establishment of demonstration farms for producing and conserving fodder, and the setting up of a sustainable fodder supply in Mongolia.

Specifically the project aims to:

• Improve, through capacity building, farmers' fodder production and conservation technology and to introduce advanced methods so as to increase fodder output as well as to improve livestock feeding practices.
• Establish, through institutional building, appropriate sized fodder systems and supporting facilities, including the setting up of small and medium sized fodder production and conservation units for demonstration.
• Introduce new improved fodder crops and varieties suited to both the local dry and harsh rainfed environment and refurbished irrigated farms, for seed multiplication and extension of the most suitable fodder crops and varieties.

Key Outcomes: peri-urban livestock producers in the Central region will have adequate quantities of high quality conserved fodder and compound feeds for economic milk and meat production, that will contribute substantially to self-sufficiency for urban populations. There should be increased technical knowledge amongst herders, farmers and technicians which should enable them to more widely demonstrate the new methods and techniques. With their ability to produce and sell more hay and silage poor rural herder and farmer family incomes should rise and livelihoods improve. Peri-urban milk producers should have access to better quantities and quality feeds and a more sustainable supply enabling them to improve milk production and sales, raising their incomes and increasing the flow of local milk and milk products availabe for urban populations.

In the longer term the programme outcome should be raised incomes and livelihoods of many poor herder and farm families, improved supplies of milk entering urban centres from peri-urban milk producers thus increasing the availability of local milk and milk products to urban populations and reducing the importation of milk and milk products.