ICRISAT
Happenings Newsletter
19 December 2014 No. 1654
Photo: S Sridharan, ICRISAT
Drs Siambi and Amede with farmers and partners at the Yewol watershed.
Reinforcing partnerships for integrated watershed management in Ethiopia
O
ne of the major problems for farmers in Ethiopia’s Woreillu District, some 500 km north of Addis Ababa, is soil erosion and associated land degradation. “Plants here suffer from both nutrient stress and water stress. The top soil in this watershed is gone and production and productivity have declined. Our big question was how can we make sure that seeds and fertilizer stay where they are placed,” says Dr Tilahun Amede, Principal Scientist, ICRISAT-Ethiopia. The answer lay in collective action for building water harvesting structures and terraces on farms – a huge community effort that required a strong partnership approach. Dr Amede brought together local government, community leaders and farmers, as well as scientists from nearby Wollo University and Sirinka
Agricultural Research Centre to work together for landscape change and sustainable intensification. The group identified key landscape challenges and discussed solutions that could be tailored to suit individual farmers’ needs and also solve the community’s problems as a whole. They also facilitated processes to introduce new bylaws in the community that would guide the work being done to mobilize communities, build the water harvesting structures and establish rules for livestock movement and a number of other issues. (For more on what was done view our slideshow on http://www.slideshare. net/icrisatsmco/yewol-slideshow). Four years later, farmers in the Yewol Watershed are pleased with the results. “Four years ago this area was to page 2...4