1. Assessing Indigenous Knowledge for Evaluation, Propagation and Conservation of Indigenous Multipurpose Fodder Trees towards Enhancing Climate Change Adaptation in Northern Ethiopia By: Mulubrhan Balehegn and Edem Eniang

2. 2 Presentation Outline Introduction –Climatic change (drought)in Ethiopia Materials and Methods Results and Discussions Conclusion and Recommendations Photo tour on the research activities

3. 3 1. INTRODUCTION Climate Change in northern Ethiopia –Repeated droughts that lead to famine; –last two decades; 1983/84, 1991/92, 1995/96, 1999/2001, 2004/2005 Why do droughts lead to famine in Ethiopia? –Rain fed cultivation (a paradox) –Oxen plowing –Drought→shortage of food and feed → death of oxen → in ability to cultivate in a subsequent year (even when the rains are back) Impact of Drought Ecological History of Northern Ethiopia –Records of James Bruce-Late 18 th Century Nathanaiel Pearce- 1820’s Hagay Erlic- 1890’s and early 19 th –Existing facts Reserved forests in and around Coptic churches –Remnant forests in north west (but under risk) –Current Archeological and ecological studies –All witness that Northern Ethiopia was area of deep and stable forest ecosystem James Bruce in the region of the Tigrayan town of Adwa (located at about 50 km from the study area), farmers grew three crops a year without the benefits manure, and they presented rich appearance to the visitor Nathanaiel Pearce reported seeing ‘ a great many elephants in the depth of the forest’ near Adwa

4. 4 What went wrong? Civil war –Only 9 years of peaceful time Population pressure –77 million (169 million by 2050) Misuse of forest resources –Deforestation, burning, clearing cultivation, uncontrolled settlement expansion Climatic change –Increased re-occurrence of drought –Farmers are confused, most believe it is a “curse of God” What is being done? –International humanitarian aid (will it bring change?) –New national policies villegization, agricultural intensification, water harvesting, reforestation etc. –Indigenous (traditional) adaptation Peoples’ own strategies of adaptation Changing patterns of resource preference, utilization and conservation of natural resources

5. 5 1.1. Objectives General Objective: To investigate indigenous strategies of selection and evaluation of indigenous fodder trees towards enhancing adaptation to climatic change. Specific Objectives To assess farmer’s perception and knowledge of indigenous fodder trees To assess farmer’s traditional practices of feeding indigenous fodder trees To identify farmer’s indigenous criteria for selection and evaluation of adaptable indigenous fodder trees To identify farmer’s adaptable indigenous fodder choices

6. 6 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. THE STUDY AREA Location- 14’ 7’00” to 14’38’30” North and 38 ’56’0” East Altitude 1400-3200 masl Mean annual rainfall: 350-650mm Human population- 215,054 Livestock Population: –93,381 cattle –108,956 small ruminants –10,865 Equines –859 Camels Land use –Cultivable: 25434ha –Natural Forest 15821ha –Areaclosure: 5637ha –Grazing land: 17389ha –Waste land: 18823ha

7. 7 2.2. Methods Socio Economic Surveys Structured and semi – structured questionnaire –120 randomly selected farmers –Group discussions local animal production and forest experts development agents, administrators and selected farmers –Descriptive statistics was used to analyze data

8. 8 3.1. Indigenous Vs. BoARD strategies Farmers choose what is adaptable BoARD provides farmers- –Universally acceptable –High nutritive value species Leucaena leucocephala Susbania suesban Cystices poliferus What do farmers prefer and plant and why? –Indigenous species (F. thonningii) –because they use diverse criteria for selection and evaluation Drought tolerance Multipurpose values and services Higher biomass Higher growth rate Ease of propagation No or minimum allelopathic effect 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

9. 9 Current Status of F.thonningii propagation and use Increasingly planted old (50-200 years)- 12.3%, middle aged (5-50 years)- 36% and young (<5 years)- 51.7% Main use Feed for cattle Supplementary feed Feed for Goat, sheep, equines and camel basal feed, Season of Intensive Feeding of F. thonningii –Feed reserves exhausted –Labor bottleneck season Feb-Sept Source of F. thonningii for feeding LS

10. 10 Effects of Feeding F. thonningii to animals  Positive effects  Smoothening of skin  Wet dung  Some farmers also indicated increased milk yield Some Negative Effects and Indigenous Solutions

11. 11 3.1.2. Multipurpose Values of F. thonningii Feed Timber Higher browsable biomass production Fencing (live) Soil and Water Conservation Drought tolerance Ever greenness Highly decomposable foliages (adds nutrients to soil) no allelophatic effect (to the ‘Gesho’ Rhamnus prinoides and other cereal crops)

12. 12 Relative Importance of Multipurpose Values Rank 1 is best and rank 9 is least

13. 13 Qualities as a fodder plant High palatability and acceptability (CP=11- 18%) Tolerates lopping and cutting Easy to propagate Little or no negative side effects to animals Higher water content, Ever greenness (ever ready) Higher browsabel biomass (DM)50.36 kg for old, 5.96Kg for medium, and 0.914Kg for young

14. 14 Scientific namelocal name Average scores for multipurpose qualities over all average score Feed fuel wood and charcoalfencingshading soil and water conservatio n Source of cashTimber Ficus thonningii shibaka 107.68.28.987.938.038.028.39 Cordia africana awhi 87.571.347.667.368.568.727.03 Acacia nilotica chea 7.5888.55.582.131.45.87 Rhus natalensis mengi 58.27.737.253.268.247.676.76 Eucalypetu s cameldulen sis Kelamitos 0.786.947.816.988.38107.066.85 Coroton macrostach yus tambuk 8.116.52.167.426.7935.55.64 Accacia ethabica seraw 8.64108.333.225.48.752.66.71 Olia europiana awlie 1.0581.037.46.58.255.55.39 Mytenus senegalensi s argudi 2.2871.084.1410.663.44 Carrisa edulis agam 4.668.54874.461.432.355.21 Multipurpose merits of F. thonningii relative to other indigenous trees (Score 10 is maximum and score 1 is minimum)

15. 15 3.1.3. Indigenous Practices of Propagation of F.thonningii 5-10 cuttings/HH/Year with increasing trend Indigenous protocol for successful propagation prepared Sources of cuttings for planting Common sites where F. thonningii is planted –Back yard woodlots –Homestead fences –Communal wastelands –Village footpath boundaries –Farm boundaries –Conservation structures (around terraces and trenches) –Traditional meeting places

16. 16 Indigenous Protocol for Successful Propagation of Ficus thonningii

17. 17 4. Conclusions and Recommendations 4.1. Conclusions In the study area, Sefeo, Central Tigray, Ethiopia, –Farmers have developed their own criteria for selection and evaluation of adaptable fodder trees –Selection criteria include; feed value, multipurpose values and services, drought tolerance, impact on other plants Ficus thonningii fulfills most of the selection criteria set by farmers –Higher feed value (acceptable and palatable) –Drought tolerance (available even at the driest year) –Higher biomass production –Easy to propagate –Diverse multipurpose values and services As a result, –There is intensified use of Ficus thonningii for livestock feeding and other multipurpose values –F. thonningii is being planted and propagated by farmers (average of 5-10 cuttings planted per farmer per year)

18. 18 4.2. Recommendations 1. Within Ethiopia, official recognition should be granted to Ficus thonningii –Large scale planting should be practiced in waste lands and area closures which are becoming common practices in Tigray region. 2. Attention to the species by research institutions such as International Center for Agro-forestry Research (ICRAF) and International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) 3. Increased focus on indigenous communities and their knowledge in adaptation to climatic change and drought for more and better options of adaptation 4. Indigenous people of werada Ahferom should be targeted in future carbon trading compensations and payments for their ingenious conservation strategy that is worthy of emulation by other Nationalities. 5. Research focused on the nutritive analysis of the species, its impact on soil and thus related under story crops

19. 19 Photo Tour of Research Activities

20. 20 Community Involvement

21. 21 Sampling Soil and Plant for Analysis

22. 22 Studying the Tree (browsable biomass estimation)

23. 23 Modeling Browsable Biomass Production

24. 24 “No for Deforestation!”- the motto of my enthusiastic research team from Ethiopia