Cote d'Ivoire

3 villages of Behoukro, Djebonoua and Bledi in Djebonoua district, Bouake department

Tanzania

Chekereni Weruweru village in Moshi rural district, Kilimanjaro region

Zambia

Lazalo and Mutaremukulu villages in Kasama province, Northern region

Malawi

Bamdawe village in Salima district

Socio-economic conditions

Population: 1,470 (3 villages totaled). Ethnic groups: Baoule. Relig-ions: ani-mism >95%.  Settlements formed by households that branched from several large clans; 7.0 peo-ple per household on aver-age, of whom 3.6 able to work. Per-household paddy field 0.26ha and non-paddy field 0.41ha. For sidelines, mak-ing sun-dried bricks, elec-tric repairs, running retail shops or restaurants (food stands), peddling fish, hunting, etc.

Settlement of laborers for railroad construction in 1950's. Area: about 500ha. Population: 3,760. Relig-ions: Ro-man Catholic, Protes-tant and Muslim. Final educa-tion: mostly primary school gradu-ates or drop-outs. About a half of vil-lage households are farm-ers with 1.6ha farm-land on average. Most land-use is for farm-land with paddy fields confined to about 20ha of semi- valley bot-tom fields.

Lazaro village estab-lished in 1946 during British colonial period. Ethnic groups: only Bemba when established; Manbwe, Namwanga, Lungu, and Ngoni at pre-sent. Sparsely populated. Area of Cham-banshi dambo about 120ha with only 3 resident house-holds. Land mostly unde-vel-oped save areas for paddy fields, fish-breeding ponds, non-paddy fields, and orchards. Traditional land ownership (under village chief's authority).

Many Mozambican civil war refugees and domes-tic migrants. Many Mus-lims. Population: about 2,000. Half of household heads with no education, and the rest with primary educa-tion at best. Area of dambo about 30ha with 63 farm-ers house-holds using the dambo. Paddy rice farming in the dambo and non-paddy field farming in the sur-rounding areas. Tradi-tional land ownership (under village chief's author-ity), and land inherit-able.

Social infrastructure

National route connect-ing Bouake to Abidjan runs about 1km to the east of the area. Djebonoua town 20km from Bouake. All 3 vil-lages unelectrified. Sev-eral wells (dug, equipped with hand pumps) in each village.

Road connecting to Moshi, district center, about 5km away. The river that runs at the west side of the villages often floods, ren-dering roads in the villages impass-able. Village water sup-ply system has been con-structed with aid from German NGO. There is a primary school but no secondary school. Unelec-tri-fied. No health facility.

From Kasama, provincial capital, about 35km up north on a national route (paved), 8km to the east, and then 10km to the north. All roads except the na-tional route are unpaved but pass-able even during the rainy sea-son. No public trans-porta-tion to the na-tional route. Unelectrified. No school or health facil-ity.

From district capital of Salima Boma, 20km to the east (on a paved road) and then about 5km to the north (on an unpaved road). Both roads inadequately main-tained. There are 2 roads in the village running north and south. There area pri-mary school and a health post both with inade-quate facilities. Unelectrified. For every-day water, there is only one well with a hand-pump.

Production infrastructure

Djebonoua dam was built in 1988 but channel con-struction and farm-land development have been untouched.

There exist irrigation chan-nels from the head works built in 1980's. Customary to irri-gate by rotation. Water volume of irrigation chan-nel to paddy fields is insuf-ficient during the dry sea-son.

Irrigation channels (earth channels) built by individu-als. Grass weirs or natural water intake. Reha-bilitation necessary every year. Short-age of water during the dry season.

Flood water from risen groundwater and inunda-tion of rivers used for paddy rice farming. Wa-ter uncontrollable artifi-cially.

Agroproduction

Non-paddy farming: slash- and-burn fields under yam, cassava, maize, groundnut, to-mato, chili pepper, etc.; bas fond slopes under yam, cassava, pulses, and vegetables. Valley bot-tom (Bas fond): paddy rice. Yam and vegetables highly cash- convertible.

Non-paddy farming: pre-dominantly maize (catch-cropping string bean, groundnut, etc.), sunflower, coffee (area of cultivation decreas-ing), banana. Valley bottom (mbuga): paddy rice (dou-ble cropping where possi-ble)

Non-paddy farming: tradi-tional slash-and-burn (chitemene) fields under finger millet, cassava, local maize (1st year), groundnut (2nd year), pulses (3rd or 4th year, followed by 10-15-year fallow period); maize by continuous crop-ping. Dambo: paddy rice.

Non-paddy farming (at areas surrounding dambo): maize, cassava, sweet po-tato, leaf mus-tard, to-mato, etc. Paddy fields (at dambo): paddy rice (dou-ble cropping where possi-ble).

Agricultural extension & research

T & V system employed. Extension workers visit a given village twice a month. Problems include transportation (mechani-cal trouble of motorcy-cles and unreliable provi-sion of fuel expenses), farmers unable to apply learned skills / technolo-gies (due to diffi-culty obtaining fertilizers), etc.

Posts for extension work-ers remain vacant in the vil-lages. Low level of paddy rice farming skills. Japan's technical coopera-tion projects implemented in Moshi district: Kiliman-jaro Agricultural Develop-ment Project (KADP) and Kili-manjaro Agricul-tural Train-ing Center (KATC)

T & V system employed. Insufficient number and quality of extension work-ers, and difficulties in transportation. Misamfu Regional Re-search Centre located in the sub-urbs of Kasama. Many sustainable agro-production studies con-ducted.

T & V system employed. Extension workers not visiting the village for many years. Lifuwu Re-search Station located north of the village. Farming skills and some seeds obtained at the center.

Administration and institutions

A cooperative (GVC: Groupment a Vocation Cooperative) formed in the past by 3 villages for the cooperative use of a tractor, but its activities came to a hiatus when the tractor broke down.

Village committee. Small committees for economy and develop-ment, social welfare, and public safety. Women's cooperatives run maize mills and brew and sell beers. Provision of labor for maintenance and management of irrigation channels.

Many new settlers (late 1980's-early 1990's). Village chiefs endowed with authority to permit or deny residence. Pay-ment in kind more com-mon than money as com-pensation for labor.

Under village chief are 4 assistants called Nduna. There are com-mittees for education, development, and health and sanitation, which hold meetings irregu-larly. No budget for devel-opment. When important decisions need to be made, village chief musters villagers for meetings. Voluntarily organized a vigilante corps. Prospective set-tlers request village chief of permission. If village chief unable to decide, seeks guidance from "traditional authority."

Market and distribution

Sell produce at markets in Bouake (about 20km away). Brokers some-times visit to purchase rice. Production materi-als procured in Bouake.

Brokers come to crop fields to purchase pro-duce. Close to a city, price information avail-able and distribution problems few. Produc-tion materials, e.g., fertil-izers and seeds, easily obtainable. Use seeds from crops harvested previously.

Market economy al-most undeveloped. Pro-ducers transport their produce to markets and sell. Production materi-als, e.g., fertilizers and seeds, unobtainable unless going to Kasama. Use seeds from crops harvested previously.

Generally rice purchase by brokers transacted at paddy fields. Other crops sold at markets in the village. Production materi-als must be ob-tained in Salima Boma. Paddy rice seeds may be obtained at Lifuwu Re-search Station.

Other special conditions

Government allocates land of valley bottom paddy fields, but the land users are often different from the official allocat-ees.

Village chiefs are de-voted farmers, entrepre-neurs as well as regional council members. Their wives are leaders of women's groups in the villages. Their influence and leadership over villag-ers are strong.

One of the settlers is a former staff member of Misamfu Regional Re-search Centre.

"Traditional authority" resides in the village. Crop damage by hippos is quite serious.

Cote d'Ivoire

Tanzania

Zambia

Malawi

Technological problems

Unstable rainfall, unsta-ble river discharge, wa-ter shortage during the dry season, insufficient drainage of valley bot-tom paddy fields, inexpe-rience in water management skills, nar-row ridges, inadequate extension services, low rice yields

Unstable rainfall and water shortage, salt dam-age (esp. natrium), inexpe-rience in paddy rice cultivation skills, inexperience in water management skills, inade-quate support services (e.g., extension, finance, cooperatives, etc.), low rice yields

Low soil fertility, avail-able fertilizers limited in contained elements, inadequate agricultural support measures by government, low rice yields

Difficulty controlling water at dambo, water shortage during the dry season, crop damage by wild animals, shortage of input materials (e.g., fertilizers, agrochemi-cals, etc.), inadequate extension services, lack of market information, low rice yields

Socio-economic problems

Construction of main water channel down-stream of the dam yet to be started, unclear land-ownership and land lease rights, lack of fund by farmers, weak farmers' organizing

Many children staying out of primary schools, no health services avail-able in the villages, fre-quent occurrences of robbery and theft, roads in the villages made impassable by rainy season floods

Sparse population, food shortage, inexperience in paddy rice farming skills

Food shortage (nutri-tional deficiencies), short-age of safe domes-tic water (factor of in-crease in diseases), inade-quate health and medical services, inade-quate primary school facilities/ equipment/ staff, lack of means of (tele-) communications

Potentials

Fertile soils, abundant water resources, cool climate, presence of strong leaders, easy ac-cess to technical coopera-tion projects (KADP and KATC)

Groundwater resources, fertile dambo soils, mild climate, easy access to area of large consump-tion

Cote d'Ivoire

Tanzania

Zambia

Malawi

Development plan

Infrastructure prepara-tion plan for valley bot-tom paddy fields
- Small-scale reservoir construction (Case 1)
- Intake weir construc-tion (Case 2)
- Irrigation channel and drainage canal con-struction (the same)
- Farmland development

Farming plan
- Planting system
- Cultivation technology improvement

Irrigation facility man-agement plan
- Water utilization facil-ity management
- Water utilization facil-ity maintenance
- Managerial body and expense sharing

Irrigation channel net-work construction by new water source devel-opment
- Pumping irrigation fa-cility construction plan
- Water channel network improvement plan

Water management method improvement

Cultivation management improvement
- Fertilization method improvement plan

Re-examination of planting schedules
- Introduction of early-maturing varie-ties

Agricultural support systems improvement
- Micro-credit
- Farmers educational training

Farming method im-provement
- Fertilization method improvement (e.g., phosphoric fertilizers, fertilizers containing minor elements)
- Dissemination of set-tled agriculture

Agricultural support systems strengthening
- Micro-credit
- Research and exten-sion (fertilization meth-ods, agricultural systems, crops or varie-ties suited to low fertility soils, early-ripening varie-ties)

Irrigation development
- Water channel repairs
- Irrigated farmland de-velopment

Groundwater develop-ment plan
- Dry season irrigation and domestic water supply

Food production in-crease and livelihood improvement plan
- Planting system im-provement
- Cultivation technology improvement
- Introduction of new crops

Farmers' self-sustenance promo-tion plan
- Organizing
- Preparation of cooperative's articles
- Educational training
- Fund procurement

Agricultural extension strengthening plan
- Extension workers' regular consultation visits

Field trials

Model paddy field de-velopment (3ha)

Pilot paddy field prepa-ration (1.16ha)

Paddy rice cultivation (fertilization) experi-ments

Pumped irrigation facil-ity construction (pump room construction, in-stallation of pump, pipe and pond)

Crop experiments re-lated to fertilization tech-nology improve-ment (timing of fertilizer application for paddy rice, amount of fertilizers, fertilizer types)

Farmers training

Sulfur fertilization ex-periments (paddy and non-paddy fields)

Paddy field leveling experiments

Construction of bore-hole with a hand pump

Paddy rice and maize fertilization experiments

New vegetables cultiva-tion experiments

Compost making ex-periments

Study tours

Educational training

Hippo fence construc-tion

Local people's participation

Contributing labor to field trials

Attending meetings at planning stage

Contributing labor for civil works to field trials

Borrowing pilot experi-ment fields (for crop ex-periments)

Establishing farmers organization (water utili-zation cooperative)

Cooperatively applying for loans (self-help ef-fort)

Borrowing fields for field trials

Attending meetings at planning stage

Contributing labor to field trials

Establishing farmers group (self-help effort)

Cooperatively purchas-ing seeds/seedlings (self-help effort)

Setting up and manag-ing cooperative farm fields (self-help effort)

Selling crops (self-help effort)