Learning Brief: Fruit Seedling Nursery Operators by Samson Haile

LEARNING BRIEF: ENHANCING CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION AND DISASTER RESILIENCE October 2018

BEST PRACTICE: Fruit Seedling Nursery Operators

1. Summary

programmes.

CAFOD, SCIAF and Trócaire (CST) are the Catholic development and humanitarian organisations from England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, respectively. All three organisations have worked in Ethiopia with partners since the mid-1970s and together in a joint country programme since 2009. CST works with national NGOs under its Women’s Empowerment and Resilient Communities

CST has been implementing a three year DFID UK Aid Match (UKAM) funded resilience project entitled ‘Enhancing Climate Change and Adaptation and Disaster Resilience in Rural Communities of Northern Ethiopia’ since November 2015. The project focuses on the most pressing poverty concerns and longer term climate change challenges in Tigray.

BENCH TERRACING AS A RESILENT APPROACH TO LANDLESS YOUTH

The Northern regional state of Tigray exhibits one of the highest overall poverty rates (31.8%) and food poverty rates at 37.1%1. Increasing temperature and declining rainfall has exacerbated Tigray’s vulnerability to drought, land degradation, overgrazing and deforestation, and water pollution. The calamities of increased climate variability and change have had adverse impacts on the local communities’ livelihoods. Environmental problems such as loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services are already taking place. Food insecurity, outbreaks of water borne and respiratory diseases associated with droughts indicate the exceptional vulnerability of the region to drought.

In partnership with wereda agricultural office and the local administration, Laelay-Legomty was identified and selected to establish Fruit Seedling Nursery Corporative so as to sustainably supply fruit seedlings to bench terrace areas constructed along hillsides, and to the local community. The project aims at providing landless youth with skills and knowledge to cultivate tropical fruits in the area so as to enhance their resilience to climate change and disaster.

Lalelay-Legomty is a Tabia/Kebele(sub-district) facing sever constraints relating to increased number of landless youth, lack of access to farmlands, lack of economic diversification, resources and capacity As such, the programme aims to increase production restraints. and productivity, diversify production and income The village’s diverse agro-ecology, and suitable opportunities, improve year round access to safe land makes tropical fruit growing advantageous. and clean water, improve sanitation and hygiene LaelayLegomty receives sufficient rainfall and practices, and protect and rehabilitate natural has access to irrigation water, which caters for resources. abundance of irrigation water that can be used to The project is implemented through a consortium harvest tropical fruits on underutilized fertile lands. of three Ethiopian local non-governmental organizations, namely Adigrat Dioceses Catholic Secretariat- Adigrat Branch (ECC-SADCO Ad), Adigrat Dioceses Catholic Secretariat-Mekelle Branch (ECCSADCO, ADCS-M) and Relief Society of Tigray (REST) are implemented in sixteen ‘Tabias’ (sub-districts) in five ‘Weredas’ (districts), the projects aim to benefit 17,078 households, of which, 4430 are female headed households with land, 2307 female headed landless households and 2755 male headed landless households. The programme will also have 45297 indirect beneficiaries of which 21653 are female headed households.

Project Context and Background

This learning brief presents the outcomes of sustainable natural resource management practices in Laelay – Legomty district implemented by CST and one of the local partners, Relief Society of Tigray (REST).

BENCH TERRACING AS A RESILENT APPROACH TO LANDLESS YOUTH

Project Implementation Approach

Key Activities

The project adopted the following approaches in The following key activities had attributed to the success of Fruit Seedling Nursery Operators project project design and implementation: in Laelay-Legomty: • Situational analysis: Desk review and discussion with nursery operator and focal officials at the regional office were conducted to understand the context, map the necessary programme procedure and activities required to develop a project tailored to local needs. • Field observation: Filed visits of plant nurseries and plantation cites were conducted to understand the complexity of the fruit production and plant nursery. • Documentation of progress: Situational assessment and field observations were later analysed and presented as an input to the program development and implementation plan.

• Establishing a seedling nursery: seedling nurseries operated by landless youth was created on 0.5ha of irrigable land. Project participants-landless youth- were identified and selected by local watershed committees and local administrators. Participants formed a cooperative with 14 members, 5 female and 9 male landless youth. However, since the formation three female members of the cooperative have joined the university, and thus left the cooperative. The cooperatives are governed by regulations and bylaws that ensure equal work opportunity, and benefit amongst participants. Members of the cooperative sell improved quality fruit seedlings to farmers in their locality, and to other REST project areas. • Capacity building of beneficiaries: Capacity building trainings focused on improving technical and business skills were provided to the project participants. The training focused on theoretical and practical aspects of fruit seedling production and management;

BENCH TERRACING AS A RESILENT APPROACH TO LANDLESS YOUTH

grafting techniques; vegetable seed production and management and marketing techniques.

The following table indicates net income of each cooperative member from fruit seedling sale. Members assert that their living conditions have significantly improved due to their income.

• Provision of Inputs The trainings were complemented with provision of inputs such as nursery equipment’s, agricultural tools, grafted fruits and vegetable seedlings to project participants.

5. Impact The project has brought several positive environmental and socio-economic impacts that improved the livelihood of landless youth in Laelai Legomti sub-district. The impacts are detailed below. Members of Awet Nursery Operators A. Access to productive resources, and increased income B. Creating employment opportunity and The project’s focus on landless youth with minimizing outmigration: little to no income generation mechanism has Landless youth in Laelai Legomti district often enabled beneficiaries to have access to and migrate to other areas in search of daily labor control over financial and land resources. and income generating source. Participants Following the trainings provided on financial report that the project has provided such management, and credit and loan facilitation, youth employment opportunities, and thus participants were able to access credit from minimized the incidences of out migration. finical institutions and engage in crop and fruit production. “I was working as a daily labourer traveling long

distances. I used to work for 9-10 months without rest. The working condition became a risk to my health and I was suffering from various diseases. I had also rented land and tried to produce cereals. But, this business was not rewarding due to the erratic nature of rainfall and associated production losses. So, life was hard for me and my family. Since I became part of the fruit seedling nursery cooperative, my living condition has improved”

Awet is one of the fruit seedling cooperatives established under this project. Under the project period, the cooperative was able to acquire 0.25 hectare of fertile land from the local administration. Having acquired new knowledge and skills through the trainings, members were able to produce a variety of fruit seedlings like orange, avocado, mango, lemon and coffee. In 2016 and 2017, the cooperative was able to produce and sell a variety of fruits amounting to 125,000 and 131,755 ETB respectively. In 2018, it is expected to rise to 224,200 ETB.

BENCH TERRACING AS A RESILENT APPROACH TO LANDLESS YOUTH

Mr. Tesfamariam Gebretadiq, 29 years old former landless youth

• Inefficient supply of seed for rootstock, and insufficient availability of fruitful seed in local markets posed additional difficulty. • Lower net income due to the high cost of employing farmers for grafting.

C. Environmental Rehabilitation The project also focused on environmental friendly means of plantation that improved the agro forestry. A total of 15,228 fruit seedlings produced by Awet cooperative were distributed to 689 farmers (127 female) and planted on farm lands. D. Behaviour and attitudinal change: Overall, project beneficiaries have stated that the program has changed their attitude towards saving, and increased their saving habits. Furthermore, beneficiaries have developed a positive perspective towards cooperatives, which attributed to the success of the project.

6. Challenges The following challenges were encountered by beneficiaries and implementing partners during the project execution. • Low productivity of grafted seedlings had occurred due to lack of experience and long distance transportation of scions. However, such problems are being overcome through increasing grafting practices by nursery operators. Moreover, members are planning to buy a vehicle that will allow them to overcome the aforementioned logistical hurdle.

Lesson learned

The project has witnessed promising outcomes that can further be accelerated and developed. Some of the key learnings taken from the project are as follow; Prioritizing site selection: identifying areas with water sources is crucial to ensure sustainable and continues fruit production. Broadening the scope of the project to benefit not only nursery operators but also relatively bigger fruit farmers is pivotal to increase fruit production beyond the Laelay-Legomty area. Strengthening network for sustainability: The project has created a wider network of farmers and experts with shared experiences who will be instrumental in strengthening long term fruit seedling supply. Market driven production: Seedlings that are provided to local farmers should be tailored to market demands so as to ensure households’ income security. Enacting clear cooperative bylaws: will increase the willingness, and equal commitment of cooperative members to value work and gear towards the same goal. Appropriate skill transfers: the training and support provided during the project period accelerated knowledge and skills transfer between trainers and farmers, and amongst farms; consequently, ensuring cooperative members’ ability to carry on tasks such

BENCH TERRACING AS A RESILENT APPROACH TO LANDLESS YOUTH

as difficult grafting, budding techniques and improved seedling bed preparation independently.

Private Ownership: policy shifts aimed at replacing central nurseries to privately owned venture encourages more farmers to join in.

Determining cost of production: in-depth study on cost of production and selling price will help to end subsidized price of quality fruit seedling.

10. Recommendation • In depth study on seedling cost of production and market value will be instrumental to end subsidies in the long term

8. Sustainability

• Studying market linkages/ value chains between root stock producers (tissue culture) and cooperatives could identify variables that facilitate sustainable production of high quality fruits.

Field observation and analysis indicate that the following factors contribute to sustainability of the project. High market demand for fruit seedling by nearby farmers will sustain seedling production and thereby income flow for project participants. Skill transfer of seedling techniques amongst local farmers will enhance the continuity of the project as farmers will continue to utilise learned skills and scale up ventures.

• Providing cooperative members with supplementary training on grafting techniques will be useful to overcome challenges related to lack of experience and resource inadequacy

Trócaire. (2014). ‘Feeling the heat: How climate Establishment of cooperatives guided by rules and change is driving extreme weather to the developing regulation, shared understanding and goal will world’. Ireland: Trócaire. facilitate project continuity whilst ensuring shared responsibility and benefits. Availability of unutilized irrigable land (400 ha) in Lalelai-Legomty will incentivize more farmers to engage in fruit seedling activities, and diversify their income generation means.

9. Scalability Conducive Contexts: Technical feasibility, easy to learn techniques, and small space requirements make seedling production desirable and replicableby farmers residing beyond the project implementation site.

BENCH TERRACING AS A RESILENT APPROACH TO LANDLESS YOUTH