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Background
35. In 1986 FAO published the study, "African Agriculture: the next 25 years". This study stressed that Africa has considerable agricultural potential but that several constraints are preventing this potential from being exploited. There is little doubt that if these constraints could be overcome, the continent could produce enough food, fibre and fuel to support a population much larger than the 500 million people now living there. About 840 million hectares, 30 percent of Africa's land area, is potentially cultivable; less than one-third of this was being cultivated in 1980.
36. While the study emphasized this potential, it also highlighted a major problem - one-third of the continent is threatened with desertification. For example, forests being destroyed 30 times faster than they are being planted. Exposed hillsides, stripped of their protective vegetation are being eroded, leading to the unprecedented silting of reservoirs and river valleys. Soil erosion has assumed dramatic proportions and gully and sheet erosion affect all the countries of the continent. Soil fertility is declining, the effects being exacerbated by modes of cultivation which removes more plant nutrients than are being returned to the soil by mineral and organic fertilizers.
37. In view of this, one of the major recommendations of the study was that a conservation strategy should be developed for the continent. This recommendation was followed. FAO worked with African experts and in June 1990, during the 16th FAO Regional Conference for Africa, held in Marrakech, Morocco, Ministers of Agriculture were presented with a new scheme - The Conservation and Rehabilitation of African Lands: an International Scheme (ISCRAL).
38. The Scheme was welcomed by the 1990 FAO Conference for Africa and endorsed in its entirety. FAO was asked to take the necessary steps for its implementation. Several delegates highlighted the seriousness and extent of the various kinds of land degradation in their countries and spoke with enthusiasm for the Scheme. Among the delegations, Togo, Madagascar, Rwanda, Burundi, Nigeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Malawi, Ghana, Benin, Gambia, Tanzania, Lesotho, Uganda, Cape Verde, Botswana, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Niger indicated that they were prepared either to start, or continue implementing, land conservation and management programmes.
How the Scheme works
39. In developing and implementing the Scheme, it became clear that the problem of land degradation could not be overcome through sporadic efforts or short-term projects; long-term programmes are needed, backed by sound land use policies and strategies to promote their development. To succeed, these programmes. must be founded on the concept of participation, as ultimately, Africa's lands can be conserved and rehabilitated only by those who make their living from their use.
40. The Scheme outlines a novel approach, based on three fundamental objectives. The first of these is improving land-use practices. The primary concern of farmers in Africa is to produce enough to feed and clothe their families and to provide the necessities of life. Few can afford the luxury of activities which do not help to meet their immediate needs. The Scheme therefore advocates an approach of identifying, developing and promoting improved land-use practices which will increase production, decrease risk or meet some other immediate and obvious requirement but which at the same time helps to conserve or rehabilitate soil.
41. The second is to encourage far greater participation by the farmers themselves in the planning, implementation and maintenance of conservation programmes. It is now appreciated that conservation can only be achieved on a large scale and at a reasonable cost if it is done by the land users themselves. The Scheme therefore suggests that the role of governments should change from that of organizations trying to undertake conservation themselves to that of facilitators creating the conditions under which land users will adopt more conservation effective practices.
42. The third is the establishment and strengthening of institutions at national and local levels (capacitybuilding) through which the necessary policies, strategies, programmes and projects can be developed and implemented.
43. Conditions vary widely in Africa but the Scheme provides a mechanism through which governments are able to develop and guide long-term plans and programmes that are tailored to their own individual requirements. It associates technical assistance, donor agencies and NGOs with all planning and implementation phases and provides a means to supply long-term assistance and select projects in a systematic way.
44. The Scheme emphasizes that activities should not be limited to national action alone. A great deal of expertise already exists in Africa and there is a need to create and strengthen networks so that countries in the region can benefit from the experience of others. There is also scope for more regional and subregional activities in research and training.
Action taken
45. Since the approval of the Scheme in June 1990 the following countries have approached FAO and have formally asked to be involved in the Scheme: Benin, Burundi, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Madagascar, Morocco, Niger, Rwanda and Togo, while discussions are in progress with Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Progress has been variable and activities in some countries have had to be temporarily suspended because of civil unrest and other crises.
46. Country reports have been prepared for Benin, Ghana and Togo which have served as that basis for the formulation of a four-year sub-regional project covering these three countries. The proposed project provides for the exchange and combination of experiences and efforts in soil conservation and agricultural development supported by the establishment of pilot sites in each of the three major ecological zones common to the three countries. It includes the validation of project research results over a larger geographical framework, the updating of technical knowledge and, above all, the introduction of improved methodologies especially in people's participation.
47. The analysis of results at the end of the project, as well as studies and work on the ground, should provide the elements for national policies, strategies and programmes in each country. The organization of regional seminars will help the member countries to attain this objective. At the end of the four-year period, the national strategies should be discussed, finalized and adopted by the government of each country. Donor support for this project is still being sought.
48. Burkina Faso, Burundi and Gambia have requested FAO cooperation and were supported in undertaking background studies and producing issues and option papers as the basis for the development of their national programmes. This has led to involving the different line departments and ministries concerned. The proposals for action will be circulated to a wider audience, including potential donors, before being finalized as the basis to the national policies, strategies and programmes.
49. UNDP is providing assistance to Morocco, under its facility for technical services at the programme level (TSS-1), for the development of their national plan of land conservation and rehabilitation. An interdepartmental committee has been established to thoroughly review past and ongoing activities. A workshop is to be held in October, 1994. It is expected that the plan developed for Morocco will result in increased priority given to the country's rainfed areas.
50. In Malawi, a national ISCRAL committee has been established which is drawing together the necessary physical and socio-economic data that is needed to develop a sound National Land Use Policy. Sufficient data on the country's natural resources are available as the result of two recent projects assisted by UNDP/FAO. Socio-economic data has been provided by a special study especially commissioned for this purpose. UNDP has recently agreed to support this initiative under its TSS-1 facility and a series of consultancies and workshops are scheduled over the next twelve months. It is foreseen that these will contribute to the formulation of a national policy for official government approval, a programme of activities and a strategy for its implementation.
51. Niger has indicated its interest in participating in the Scheme and is in the process of developing an analysis of "issues and options" as a basis for action. Mali has also indicated its interest in the Scheme. Discussions are in progress with Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe and the development of a programme is planned with these three countries in the coming months.
52. Consultations were held in Madagascar, and the Central African Republic and some preliminary work started. Good progress had been made in Rwanda, prior to the recent events, in collecting the relevant data and developing a national strategy to combat the country's land degradation problems.
53. The Scheme is now in action Missions were sent to all countries which have requested to join the Scheme. Recommendation of these missions are under review by Member Governments for developing appropriate policies, strategies and programmes. in cooperation with FAO.
54. So far, the Scheme has been mainly supported out of FAO's Regular Programme but the requirements beyond the identification phase call for greater donor support if national and regional programmes are to be fully developed.
55. At present many African countries do not have the resources to launch the massive land conservation and reclamation schemes that are needed. The International Scheme for the Conservation and Rehabilitation of African Lands is ambitious and progress is slow, whereas land degradation affects more and more severely the land resource base of the continent and threatens the sustainability of its agricultural development. Land conservation and reclamation have to be tackled if agricultural production in Africa is to be raised to an appropriate level and food security is to become a reality. This will require fundamental redirection and commitment from all African countries and the international community in the true spirit of partnership.