JIGJIGA MODEL NURSERY SITE
Introduction
Directly or indirectly the rapid and continued deforestation activities that has been taking place for a long period of time has contributed very much to the problem of desertification, drought, land degradation and climate change. The underlying causes of land degradation are the loss of soil by erosion, deforestation and the use of dung and crop residues as fuel, which could have been used to replenish the soil nutrients of agricultural land. The root cause of soil erosion is loss of land cover by deforestation and poor agricultural practices that result in increased runoff. Not only washing the top soil, increased runoff causes overflowing and huge flood damage to lives, water dams and infrastructure. On the other hand, higher run off means less infiltration in to the ground and hence less amount of water available for human and animal use during the dry season. The degradation of the land is also highly related to loss of feed resources for animals, and limited livelihood diversity in the area like Somali region.
Project Approach and Accomplishments Related to Gender/youth Transformation and Mainstreaming
•
Gender teams
organized and
established at district and community levels;
• Gender study undertaken at all woredas
including opportunities
and challenges;
•
Gender
mainstreaming awareness trainings programs undertaken for 2 district gender
teams and cascaded to community levels;
•
Gender mainstreaming action
plan prepared and being mainstreamed at district
and community level;
•
All the project
activities plan considered the both male and female during
beneficiary selection.
•
All the
reports considers both male
Somali region is one of the largest parts of Ethiopia however; large part of the region is lacking land cover through reforestation after land has been cleared by deforestation. Subsequently the erratic rainfall which is the characteristic feature of arid and semi-arid areas, lack of soil organic matter and poor aggregation leads to erosion hazards at the lower catchments.. The flooding events during rain fall have caused severe hazards such as destructions of infrastructures and loss of life. To handle this type of problem, it could be quite difficult at one institution level; it is difficult at only government level. But it could be easier if the society understands the cause and consequence of the problem, level of the problem and the opportunities they have to tackle the problem.
One of the best ways used to control and reduce these major environmental problems is afforestation/reforestation. The tree plantation has positive impact on reducing top soil loss, erosion hazard control, microclimate amelioration, being used as carbon sink and source for different wood products. This process can be done through conventional plantation activities or it can be done through household based small scale plantation activity of different multipurpose trees/ Shrubs/ grasses. The multipurpose trees/ shrubs/ grasses planted by household can contribute fruit, fodder/forage for animals and other benefits. This may help the household to diversify the feed system, marketable product diversification, employment opportunity and, increase their interest to invest on this green development and climate change resilient investment.
The successfulness of tree plantation is highly dependent on the accessibility of seedlings, the adaptability of seedlings to the area, vigorous of the seedlings, the extent of site preparation, suitable planting season and management activities.
As a tradition, tree plantation can be carried out at anywhere, at any time, without giving due attention to the attributes that affect establishment on the field. However, producing seedlings on the same agro-ecology where the seedlings will be planted on the field maximizes ecological adaptation and survival rate of the seedlings, minimizes the cost of transportation. With the help of professional advice how to plant, where to plant and when to plant, land users will be more profitable. Therefore, the nursery establishment of multipurpose trees has multifaceted advantage to the society and environmental problem like climate change mitigation, food security, flood and other environmental hazard.
Main activities of the project:
Quality seedling production
Actively advertise the objective and benefit of multipurpose tree/shrubs to the livelihood
Fulfill local community demand for multipurpose trees
Provide environmental conservation trees and ornamental trees
Provide drought resistance and forage seedling
Objectives of the Project:
- Long term objective
- The long term objective of this venture is to support part of national goal of green development economy, increased environmental welfare and diversification of horticultural crops in Somali Region.
- This project will support product diversification of local farms and play role food security and other environmental problems.
- This project will be center of seedling distribution in Somali region.
- Inspiring and mobilizing the community to cover the open and marginalized lands by their effort, and access the blessings of those plantations.
- Short term objectives are to
- Produce conservation seedling to cop adversely impact of erosion
- Establish nursery for production of tree/shrub seedlings of multipurpose species
- Making advertisement for more market access for selling trees/shrub/fruit seedlings
- Giving professional advice and technical support to local experts how to carry out all the management activities starting from nursery establishment up to plantation
- To contribute more seedling national green ligancy day
Beneficiaries: The ultimate beneficiaries are SRS zones, wadare, city administrations, neighbor country, farm cooperatives, and industry and construction cooperatives
- Social benefits
This project is intended to support the Green Economic development at Somali regional State which is part of five years development and Transformation goals of Ethiopia. It will also offer wide range benefits to targeted groups of the community. The growers of the trees/shrubs/fruits will be benefited from the products such as fruits, fodder for their animals, fuel wood, and indirect benefits such as soil fertility improvement, shed for animal and used as windbreaks. These all mentioned products and services have significant economic value, for which the farmers spent money to get it. Therefore, making these things accessible for the farmers improves the family’s livelihood especially family feed system diversification.
Moreover, the community will obtain vigorous seedlings from near vicinity, and get professional advices related to management of trees and crops they plant.
- Environmental Benefit
Forests offer protective functions and maintain soil fertility by improving soil structure and thereby play a major role in sustaining agricultural production systems. Trees and shrubs also contribute directly to the reduction of soil erosion by taking part in soil organic matter build up and improving soil fixation by developing extensive root systems. They contribute to water resources conservation by limiting run – off and increasing soil water intake, thus improving water resource availability. In addition, they contribute to improved agricultural practices by providing shade and shelter to crops and animals. In agricultural and grazing land, trees and shrubs can increase both crop and livestock production by reducing wind speeds and water loss.
Forests and trees lessen the impact of rainfall, allowing water to percolate instead of being lost through run off. In areas receiving an annual rainfall of 600mm per year, afforestation of 1 ha of steeply sloped eroded land allows an estimated 5000 m3of water to seep into the ground thus preventing the filling up of water ways and the incidence of floods on rivers, lakes, dams and infrastructures.
Sustainability
This project is also the idea which has been planned by forest sector transformation unit (FSIT) in federal level which provides support Somali regional stat. Also the regional environmental protection and rural land administration planned to sustainably continue the project even more expanded. The professional advice to be given regarding different multipurpose trees, shrubs and horticultural fruit, and making continues advertisement to different concerned bodies will also used to guarantee the continued production of seedlings even more intensively than the begging time. The project was established 2013E.C