Preconditions
for development
Organization and
targeting of development
Farm production and
range resource management
The key aspects of dryland development strategies which are described here cover the principal elements that need to be addressed when assessing or formulating strategies for these areas. Such strategies should meet the immediate needs of dryland populations, especially in respect of poverty alleviation, and secure longer term improvement in the management of cropland and rangeland resources. Each key aspect needs to be considered to ascertain its importance for the particular setting, and if relevant, to ensure that it will be addressed in the dryland development strategy or within other national strategies. It should be noted that training and manpower development is not given the status of a separate element, but should be considered where relevant under each key aspect.
The key aspects are grouped in three categories. The preconditions for development are especially important to dryland development and so are explicitly stated. Their importance lies in the fact that drylands, despite degradation and difficult living conditions, are often low on the scale of political priorities. This may not apply in countries that are wholly or mainly dryland, but elsewhere dryland development needs seldom determine national policies and priorities; more usually, drylands are considered problem areas, warranting a small share of social services and agricultural budgets and rising on the political agenda only at times of famine or civil strife.
The second group of key aspects relates to the organization and targeting of development, and again addresses issues that are not unique to drylands. However, they assume specific forms in the drylands context. The emphasis throughout is on targeting designated areas and communities. This involves change both in normal government procedures and organization, and in project and programme design, substituting locally-targeted incremental development for ambitious and fixed term projects. Central to the whole theme is community participation in the development process, and the gathering of adequate information for sound development planning.
The components grouped under farm production and range resource management relate specifically to drylands and cover issues and inputs arising from the seasonality, fragility and insecurity of that environment. The focus lies on the resource base and technical interventions to improve and sustain farm and range productivity, within the context of the institutional improvements identified above. These aspects could be expanded to cover nonagricultural sectors — including wildlife conservation and tourism, mineral exploitation and industrial development — but these are considered too specialized for inclusion here. They do, however, offer local employment opportunities (among other benefits) and so can contribute to relieving pressure on drylands as well as generating income. Certainly such dryland strategies needs to link with those for other areas and sectors.
Relief of Population Pressure
Rapid population growth in recent decades has overloaded the drylands beyond their capacity, even under improved agriculture. Population growth has a fundamental bearing on food and agriculture world-wide and, in most developing countries, sustainable agriculture will only be feasible if population pressure on natural resources is reduced. Each area of land under a subsistence form of land use has a maximum population support capacity, and if that capacity is exceeded then the land is over-exploited and degradation results. In the case of the drylands, where the environment is especially fragile, the human support capacity is low and the chances of over-exploitation are greater.
Unless there is commitment to reducing population growth, at both government and community level, then any strategies implemented to alleviate poverty and increase production will only be short-term and unsustainable, leading ultimately to further degradation of resources by pressure of agriculture and increasing livestock numbers.
Family planning may not always be immediately acceptable and, even where it is, it may take years for the effects to be substantially realized. Nonetheless, it has a central role in reducing the future difficulties of the drylands. It is therefore a matter of urgency that governments accelerate the implementation of national family planning programmes. Both commitment and sensitivity are needed to overcome the array of religious, social and technical obstacles that face effective family planning and to design programmes adapted to local conditions. In the drylands, where families are often remote from services and dependent on a large family labour force, it may well be essential to link rural services for family planning to health clinics and dispensaries.
The provision of health and education services is generally inadequate in the drylands, and especially so for pastoral populations because of their low population density and mobility. This general deficiency in health, education and social services warrants early attention, with consideration in pastoral areas for special arrangements such as mobile health clinics and schools (even if such mobility incurs extra expense). The education of children will encourage emigration to higher potential areas. Even basic adult education can be expected to facilitate adoption of improved agricultural practices; and, in the case of women, to lower the risk of infant mortality.
Resettlement, on the other hand, facilitates the provision of such services at reasonable cost, but is not always easy to implement. Few countries have vacant land readily available, so resettlement often depends on irrigation development. Nonetheless, where over-population is acute there may be no alternative to resettlement, and the option certainly needs careful study as an integral part of national development planning.
The main responsibility for programmes addressing the population issue rests with national authorities. However, local community participation is essential for successful implementation. The international community can contribute significantly with advisory and material support.
Political Commitment
A lack of political commitment to rural development, particularly to drylands, has sometimes been observed. Many governments give first priority to national defence and security, or to political reform or basic infrastructure, and these are exclusively national decisions. Nevertheless, in situations where the majority of a country's population are subsistence farmers, national security and social amenity have little meaning if the rural population is not able to produce the food it needs to survive. Thus, the political attention and the resources given to agriculture and land use management in the drylands should be proportionate to the developmental problems located in these areas.
Political will is a prerequisite. If the development of dryland areas is a high priority, then the formulation and implementation of an effective development strategy if feasible; and the key aspects of dryland development enumerated below become relevant. Without the requisite political will to develop dryland areas, progress is impossible and the prospect is one of worsening resource degradation and human deprivation. An essential corollary is that political will must be translated into enabling legislation and the provision of necessary resources. It is also fundamentally important that developments initiated should be sustainable, not only ecologically but organizationally, socially and financially.
Adequate planning data are needed to guide political decisions. There are few opportunities for quick-fix solutions in the development of drylands and, although such prospects have political appeal, politicians should ensure that decisions are taken only after adequate planning based on sufficient reliable data. Time and resources need to be given to planning, as well as to policy formulation and the implementation of development.
Legislation, as well as resources, may be needed to translate political decision into action. Sometimes the need is over-stated — and lack of legislation can be more an excuse than a reason for inactivity at ground level—but at least basic land use legislation is required to limit destructive practices and to enable the establishment of local organizations with legal powers and responsibilities for the management of land and other resources.
Responsibility for action lies with national authorities. International agencies can provide advice and assistance for improving land use data and planning capacity.
Marketing and Rural Infrastructure
Inappropriate price policy, particularly for animal products, and lack of effective input and marketing services are major constraints to improving productivity of drylands. There has been, of course, considerable attention to 'getting prices right' during the past decade of structural adjustment in many developing countries. This issue assumes special significance in the drylands which often suffer high transportation and servicing costs, yet have often lacked the political influence to attract substantial subsidies.
The terms of trade for dryland products are a major determinant of production levels. In principle, policies should be adopted which encourage the free operation of agricultural input and product markets in order to provide appropriate incentives to producers and to encourage investment in farm and range improvement. In some countries this implies finding other means for supporting the urban poor than through cheapfood policies which tax dryland producers. At the same time, care is needed not to subsidize dryland producers and thereby to encourage the extension of cropping into marginal areas where it cannot be sustained or, through subsidized animal feed or water, the maintenance of excessive livestock numbers that are destructive of rangeland.
Efficient input and product markets are important but they are only one factor in a package including research, extension and other essential rural services. Among essential services are storage, marketing and market information, transport and supplies of inputs as well as credit and banking facilities. The support to the development of rural service centres is one option in the process of improvement of the drylands.
Action required is as follows:
- facilities for the off-take and marketing of crops and livestock, including grain stores and livestock holding grounds;
- access to these facilities assured by a programme of upgrading or construction of roads;
- input services for the supply of fertilizers, seed, pesticides and stock medicines, and for the servicing of transport and water supply points;
- banking and rural credit facilities which recognize the generally weak economic position and special needs of producers; and
- mobile units, where economic, to ensure that essential services are available in outlying areas.
Main responsibility lies with national governments, with substantial involvement by local communities in identifying local needs and in ensuring successful implementation of the initiatives taken. International donor assistance will be necessary in funding of storage, markets and access, but the private sector should also be encouraged to undertake at least some of these ventures.
Organizational and Staff Efficiency
One constraint to dryland development is the lack of technical and administrative staff to ensure changes in drylands, and poor reward systems, living conditions and career prospects in rural areas. Some major agencies have noted the existence of a wider and deeper malaise in public administration than simply a shortage of trained staff. In essence, the problem is that many institutions and staff are ineffective, due variously to imprecise mandates, counter-productive staffing procedures and inadequate guidance, facilities and motivation. The problem is magnified in drylands in so far as postings in these areas are often regarded as punishment stations.
Actions required, in total or in part depending on country or organizational circumstances, are as follows:
Main responsibility in the areas listed rests with national authorities, though international agencies and bilateral and other donors can help in providing organization and management expertise and training courses.
Community Participation
It is essential to involve the community and local leadership in designing and maintaining development efforts. In reality, it is participation in the development process that is required, not just consultation; it requires a positive approach to building farmers' groups and community organizations that can exercise increasing influence on land management and development.
Action required is as follows:
Main responsibility for initiating community participation in the development process rests with national authorities, but non-governmental organizations can assist with implementation. Other agencies can help by making available to national authorities external experience in the formation of corporate organizations at the local level. The precise nature of these organizations will vary between pastoral and agricultural situations, and according to the focus of development and the political system to which the country concerned adheres.
Security of Tenure
A lack of security of land tenure is a constraint which calls for policy decisions. Access to land and other resources is a major primary determinant of rural incomes and welfare, and those who do not have security of land tenure are deprived both of security of subsistence and of opportunity to improve their lot. Normally adequate security of tenure implies allocation (or re-allocation) of land under government licence or title. This also has the advantage of allowing government to oversee and encourage better land management by the user.
Land redistribution and tenancy reform are fundamental means of alleviating rural poverty, and although some countries have attempted to introduce such measures, the history of land reform includes many failures. The 1979 World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (WCARRD) concluded that developing countries should give priority to the adoption of institutional frameworks and farming structures which allow more equitable access by the rural population to land, water and other natural resources.
When initiating land reform, it is desirable that proposals for reform should involve consultation with the farmers and pastoralists concerned, whether the proposals are for land redistribution, resettlement, the granting of permanent rights or modification of customary rights. However, it is important that the initiative in land allocation is retained by government. A laissez-faire policy that allows uncontrolled immigration and settlement is to be avoided.
The case for private land title is often argued in terms of its value as collateral for credit, but the credit system itself often needs reform. Land reform in the drylands may involve group title or forms of individual licence other than freehold title. In some areas, granting of individual titles to land can lead to accelerated marginalization of those with the least secure customary rights and the smallest holdings.
Action required is as follows:
Main responsibility lies with the national governments but international agencies can play an important role in providing expertise in organization, management and training.
Research
A lack of applicable research results suggests giving priority to applied and adaptive research in agriculture, forestry and hydrology. It is currently much debated whether or not there is sufficient available technology to support drylands development. Some argue acute deficiency on the grounds that technology is not available unless it is already proven by uptake by farmers or pastoralists. But most would agree that, in many circumstances, some practicable and useful interventions can be prescribed locally following a thorough analysis of the farming system concerned - this may well involve repackaging or adapting experience or technology to fit the specific system.
The term farming systems implies all forms of natural resource utilization, including crop agriculture, agro-forestry and woodlots, beekeeping, fish farming, livestock production, range management, hunting and gathering and all combinations of these.
The required analysis of farming systems involves determining the relationships between resources, crop production, livestock husbandry, household activities and off farm employment, and household objectives. With this analysis one can identify any immediate opportunities for technology transfer, other non-technical interventions and priorities for further research; without it any research that is undertaken has doubtful relevance.
Good applications of the farming systems approach use the initial analysis to project likely development paths, and then tests promising interventions under real farm or pastoral conditions while also pursuing necessary component research outside the system. This combines systems research with systems development. In coastal areas, farming systems research would need to give due attention also to the marine component of natural resource utilization, though fisheries development per se is usually considered as being marginal to the mainstream of drylands development.
This approach subordinates work undertaken on research stations to farming systems research and development undertaken directly in farming and pastoral areas. It is the latter which should dictate the former, not the reverse.
Actions required include the following:
Responsibility for ensuring adequate research is shared between national authorities and international and regional bodies. Some of the more specific themes of research that could most profitably be pursued in the drylands are indicated later.
Development Planning
Development planning for the drylands usually suffers from the lack of an integrated approach and insufficient assessment of natural resources of land, water and vegetation. Thus, the joint planning and phased implementation of dryland development efforts is required, and further surveys of natural resources and farming systems.
These concerns stem from the disappointing performance of the majority of the larger drylands development projects. It is not proposed here to review past development experience in detail, but there is a consensus that a large part of the problem lies in project design. The tendency has been towards overly-ambitious and time-constrained programmes and projects that have been planned and implemented from the top down, rather than building on local structures and management capabilities. Most projects claim to have involved local study and consultation but clearly to an inadequate degree. Indeed, deficiencies in planning data extend far beyond natural resource information. Usually there has been lack of demographic data and of understanding of local value systems and management practices.
Actions required relate both to planning data and to project and programme design.
- focus on defined (and adequately researched) areas and communities;
- ensure local participation, preferably through existing community organizations;
- phase development activities and inputs within a long term perspective of development that takes account of the total needs, current and future, of the areas and communities concerned;
- ensure that inputs relate to the needs of individual production systems and cover essential infrastructure;
- envisage incremental as well as sustainable development, starting with inputs that are deemed helpful but safe in terms of possible environmental consequences;
- avoid heavy dependence on concurrent inputs, at least initially and where inputs have major organizational or management demands;
- include provision for staff and farmer training;
- include provision for the annual review and monitoring of progress, by national authorities and community organizations; and
- make subsequent phases conditional upon initial progress, as measured in terms of targets, the results of monitoring and the ability of research to define appropriate inputs.
Main responsibility rests with national authorities but with input throughout from local communities and organizations. Development planning is very situation-specific, but valuable support in pre-development survey and training can be offered by international and regional organizations.