The adoption of a new strategy for forest and upland watershed management on the one hand and the multi-disciplinary approach to integrated rural development in these areas on the other make it necessary for a wide variety of data to be collected in numerous fields (see p.55, table of main disciplines).
In addition to the usual technical, physical and biological surveys and studies (geological, soil, topographical, hydrological, botanical, with plant association, animal husbandry, macro-economic, etc.), studies dealing with the people and their activities, i.e. sociological and micro-economic, must also be conducted. Many guides and other publications prepared by the FAO Forestry Division (e.g. FAO Conservation Guides, Nos. 1 to 4) deal with the former. This chapter will concentrate on the latter.
Once it has been decided to start management work in an upland watershed or sub-watershed areas and one or several pilot areas, which will be used to develop techniques and methods, have been provisionally selected, as much data as possible must be collected. First of all, a list of all available documentation will be drawn up. Some documents will have to be up-dated. Other data will have to be collected locally.
The scarcity of vital information is often amazing. Considerable resources will have to be assigned to the collection and analysis of necessary data, for every action must be based on perfect knowledge of the situation.
On the national or regional scale, data collected must allow the authorities to choose the strategy best suited in the interest of the majority. At the local level, the information needed concerns available lands and their potential, the species to be planted and planting techniques. At all levels, the population will want to know the price they will have to pay in materials and effort.
The aim of preliminary studies is to evaluate the feasibility of the programme and to enable a choice of experimental areas and watersheds to be tackled on a priority basis to be made.
A comment is necessary at this stage concerning the expected participation of the local people. It is recommended that contact be made with the people through their natural leaders and through information sessions, before the investigators are sent to the field. Mountain people, who are most often isolated, are very concerned by all that affects their customs and their land and, above all, by everything that comes from outside their area. They live in fear of seeing the Government or the "Companies" take their land and force them to emigrate, especially since they often occupy these lands illegally.
It would be ideal if extension work, information and awareness campaigns were carried out before surveys, even if no definite decision as regards the programme has been made.
The first surveys should also provide enough data to allow the primary aims and overall objectives of the programmes to be defined and must help in the choice of sub-basins where the techniques and methods will be developed.
The information obtained will have to allow the criteria listed in section 3.4. to be applied so that an estimate of the economic potential (agricultural, forest, water) as well as the opportunities for diversifying production (agricultural, handicrafts, etc.) may be made. Focus will be on the local people (institutional structure, traditions, degree of awareness of the problem of erosion, predisposition to participate in a management programme in the area).
When the choice is made and a policy decision has been taken by the programme authorities, the maximum amount of detailed information will have to be collected, through surveys, to allow planning of each of the sector-based objectives defined.
This phase of the programme is very time-consuming and a competent staff and adequate resources are required. The authorities must recognize this, even though they are often impatient to move on to the implementation stage. To neglect these detailed studies and analyses before going into action would only create serious difficulties.
Very complete data must be obtained so that all the possible alternatives may be considered and the people be allowed to choose those that best suit their requirements.
The vital detailed information required as regards the economic and social aspects concern:
Further, special surveys are usually necessary to obtain subjective information (on the people's attitude towards and opinion of the programme, etc.), on which the success of the programme depends.
Comments on the surveys:
Accurate data will be difficult to obtain, especially as regards the personal economic situation of the members of the community directly concerned. Individuals, whether they be from developing or industrialized countries, show great discretion on the subject of their financial situation or income.
To obtain this information, attempts must be made to pose direct questions about the land areas farmed, the number of plots and how far they are from the economic centre of the farm, the land areas devoted to different crops, inputs (if any), yields, quantities of products consumed by the farmer and quantities sold (or handed over to the landowner, in the case of tenant farming or share-cropping), debts, participation in cooperatives or pre-cooperative groups, etc.
Answers which are complete, accurate and which reflect reality cannot be expected, because the members of these communities have not had any schooling and do not know or do not pay attention to these details and if they do, they do not want to communicate them. Often, if they feel obliged to give an answer, they give false or incomplete information. (Livestock farmers exaggerate the size of their herd if they hope to receive fodder; on the other hand, they give a lower figure if they think they will be taxed per head of livestock). Nevertheless, experience has shown that figures obtained in this way were more reliable than those provided by school teachers or other government officials.
An indirect method may also be used. This consists of observing the activities of the population, their work in the field, their trips to the market or elsewhere, their provisions, crops, etc. and making estimates which could be checked against the few accurate details collected.
It is vital that the population participate actively in these surveys; this will contribute to the development of an atmosphere of confidence. Time and patience will be needed to achieve this.
An important point is the system of land ownership. It is clear that management does not have the same significance for a tenant farmer or share-cropper as for a landowning farmer, especially in developing countries where farming leases and share-cropping contracts often do not exist. Land-owners who live in the towns, far from their lands, will often consider the programme merely as an opportunity to increase their profits, and this is likely to widen the gap between poor and rich even more.
Management programmes are often conducted in forest areas which have long been classified as national lands (public property, state lands, etc.). The local people have often encroached on these lands without official permission. The management programme will be the opportunity to legalize the situation, taking all factors into consideration: human, physical, environmental, etc. This will also encourage farmers to participate actively in the operations.
During implementation, stock must be taken periodically of the situation and cost benefit must be compared with the actual situation to allow orientations and programmes to be modified accordingly.
To facilitate comparison with the situation "before" the programme, a certain number of indicators and ratios will be chosen, and the way they vary will indicate the changes that have occurred.
In large-scale programmes, an expert should be assigned to this evaluation to consolidate data on the progress observed by the technicians in charge of the various operations and analyze them. In this way, it will be possible to monitor the programme. Everything will be assessed: the surface areas sown or planted, the time devoted to the different operations, as well as the number of participants in association meetings or changes in the attitude and habits of the people - to cite only a few examples.
This periodic assessment will have to continue after completion of management operations since it will be necessary to keep a check on the work that has been done and on the continued development efforts of the people themselves. If necessary, measures will have to be taken to prevent the installations from falling into disrepair and certain individuals from monopolizing the benefits of the programme. It is obvious that lasting changes in habits cannot occur in a few years and that it must be reckoned that this will take almost a generation.
The first step is to draw up a list of data required, corresponding to specific objectives. All the experts, technicians, economists, sociologists, etc. will participate in this operation. Quantifiable parameters or indicators will have to be chosen in preparation for the assessment of on-going programmes.
Then, questionnaires must be prepared. Yes or no, or + or - answers can be expected for some questions, but answers including figures cannot be avoided since surface areas, yields, values, heads of cattle or numbers of fruit trees, etc. are involved. In this case, the units must be chosen with care (surface areas, volumes, values) so as to avoid errors and confusion. It will be preferable to use local units (with conversion scales in meters, hectares, sq. km., acres; or litres, hectolitres, cu.m.; kg. or tons; dollars, etc.).
Computers are increasingly used to store and process data. The questionnaires will therefore have to be prepared on the basis of computer requirements.
Choice of the survey method
In small experimental areas, which are used to develop techniques and methods, an overall census could be conducted. This method will moreover help in establishing personal contacts with all the households and farmers of the area and will facilitate relations later when plans and programmes are being drawn up.
When the programme is extended to neighboring areas, a poll or random sample survey could suffice. Beforehand, however, the areas which are physically, biologically and ethnically homogeneous will have to be defined.
Questionnaires and methods must be tested beforehand.
A system of statistical analysis for data must be chosen.
The "quantitative" survey should be completed by a "qualitative" survey to define the nature of the problem, to find its place in the life of the community, to pinpoint the difficulties to be overcome, to locate the individuals and groups of individuals which are opposed to or interested in solving the problem, to find possible solutions, to assess the resources available to remedy a particular situation by appropriate measures, to formulate ways of applying the solution.
To do this, the facts must be observed and recorded.
Specific social surveys enable a better understanding to be obtained of the role of cause and effect in the problems under review.
Observations may be of three types:
The field survey is the most important.
Success will depend to a great extent on the attitude and ability of the surveyors. They must:
The surveyors must be given further training. It would be preferable if the person in charge of the survey carried out the training.
The psychology of making contacts, the interview technique and errors to be avoided are important points of the training programme. Each point of the questionnaire must be analyzed in detail; the units of measure must be specified and the different possible answers anticipated and discussed. It is clear that the surveyors must be aware of the aim of the survey and the objectives of the programme to be able to provide objective answers to the questions that the inhabitants of the area will not fail to ask. In addition to theoretical training, provision must also be made for practical exercises in the field.
In order to obtain homogenous data, the persons carrying out the survey should work in teams. Every day, the team must meet to compare experiences, to consult the officer responsible, the team leader, to add to and modify the questionnaire, if need be, with the aim of facilitating analysis.
The official departments dealing in statistics, social affairs, traditional local communities, etc, should be invited to participate. An important decision will have to be taken as to whether the survey should be a complete census or a sample survey. In any case, sectors must be defined, to take into account the different ecological conditions and ethnic groups, etc.
Some suggestions for the surveys are listed in Annex III. (Return)
