A Community Assessment of Climate Change Innovations in Chololo Ecovillage
This report summarises the outcomes of a community workshop held in Chololo on 2 August 2013.
The purpose of the workshop was to assess the effectiveness, gender friendliness, and affordability of the 25 innovations introduced by the Chololo Ecovillage project, so as to be able to prioritise innovations for scaling up. The workshop used participatory methods, particularly community matrix ranking, to assess the innovations. Participation increased as the day went on – from 39 up to 55 participants, around 60% female. The process grouped the innovations into four main headings: Agriculture, Livestock, Natural Resources, and Water.
Agriculture
1.1 Crops
Participants listed the crop they grew, in order of importance.
Importance | Crop |
1 | Pearl Millet |
2 | Sorghum |
3 | Groundnut |
4 | Cowpea |
5 | Pigeon pea |
6 | Maize |
1.2 Yields
Participants reported average yields per acre for key crops this year.
Importance | Crop | Lowest yield 2013 (bags/acre) | Average yield 2013 (bags/acre) | Lowest yield 2013 (Kg/acre) | Average yield 2013 (Kg/acre) |
1 | Pearl Millet | 1.5 | 3-3.5 | 150-167 | 300-385 |
2 | Sorghum | 2 | 3-4 | 200-220 | 300-440 |
3 | Groundnut | 0.3-1 | 4-7 | ??? | ??? |
1.3 Take-Up of Agriculture Innovations
Partipants (39) reported their take-up of the main agricultural innovations.
Agriculture Innovations | Take up (%age) |
Good Agricultural Practices | 100% |
Ox-tillage implements: ox-plough, Magoye ripper, ox ridger | 100% |
Intercropping | 100% |
Farmyard manure | 95% |
Soil moisture conservation measures (e.g. contours, fanya juu) | 40% |
Community seed production | 15% |
Chololo pits | 3% |
Conclusions on take-up of agriculture innovations
From these results we se that the most popular agricultural innovations taken up are:
- Good Agricultural Practices
- Ox-tillage implements
- Intercropping, and
- Farmyard manure
The soil moisture conservation measures have less take-up, possibly due to the limited availability of hands-on training resources in this area. Community seed production take-up figures the small numbers of farmers who were involved in this highly specialised activity.
1.4 Innovative assessments methods
a) Effectiveness: Participants were first asked to indicate the effectiveness of each of the innovations, by each ticking the 4 most effective, using different colour marker pens for men and women.
b) Women’s benefit: Female participants (only) were then asked to vote by show of hands on whether each innovation benefitted women, and state why each were of benefit.
c) Affordability: Participants were asked to indicate whether they would take up each of the innovations: not at all, only if free, only with a loan, or with their own money.
Innovations (agriculture) | Effectiveness | Percentage benefit to women? | Why does it benefit women? | ||
Total | Male | Female | |||
Improved seeds | 77% | 14 | 16 | 100% | “When there is food there is peace” |
Ox-tillage implements | 77% | 13 | 17 | 70% | Labour-saving |
Soil moisture conservation | 72% | 7 | 11 | 46% | Plants can stay longer |
Farm yard manure |
62% | 10 | 14 | 70% | Higher yield |
Intercropping |
41% | 6 | 10 | 100% | “We get all the crops” |
Good agriculture practices |
27%* | 6 | 4 | 97% | More yield |
Community seed production |
5% | 1 | 1 | – | – |
Chololo pits |
3% | 1 | – | – | – |
*Possibly an anomaly due to misunderstanding of the scope of the GAP when the question was being asked. See take-up table above.
1.5 Conclusions on effectiveness and gender friendliness of agriculture innovations:
From the table above we see that the most effective innovations are :
• Improved seeds• Ox-tillage implements• Soil moisture conservation• Farmyard manure
While the most beneficial to women are identified as:
• Improved seeds• Intercropping• Good Agriculture Practices• Ox-tillage implements• Farmyard manure
Innovations (Agriculture) | Affordability | |||
Don’t want to buy | Only if free | Only with a loan | With their own money | |
Farm yard manure | 0 | 0 | 0 |
100% |
Intercropping | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
Good agriculture practices | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
Ox-tillage implements | 1 | 0 | 54% | 86% |
Improved seeds | 1 | 0 | 44% | 82% |
Soil moisture conservation measures | 1 | 0 | 0 | 82% |
Chololo pits | – | – | – | – |
Community seed production | – | – | – | – |
1.6 Conclusions on affordability of agriculture innovations:
It is clear that the following are readily affordable to famers:
- Farmyard manure
- Intercropping
- Good agriculture practices
While the following may require loans or subsidy to ensure take-up:
- Ox-tillage implements
- Improved seeds
1.7 Food security
Participants predicted how long their harvest would last this year.
Harvest | Predicted food availability limit | Number of participants | Months of food availability | Months of hunger |
April | May | 1 | 11 | 1 |
April | October | 6 | 6 | 6 |
April | December | 7 | 8 | 4 |
April | January | 6 | 9 | 3 |
These figures show that the period of food deficit is expected to vary from 1 month to 6 months, while the average period of food deficit this year will last 4.7 months.
Livestock Innovations
Innovation (Livestock) | Effectiveness | Women benefit | Don’t want to buy | Only if free | Only with a loan | With their own money |
Disease management | 100% | 87% | 0 | 0 | 3% | 97% |
Bulls | 92% | Not yet* | 0 | 89% | 23% | 0 |
Cocks | 86% | 65% | 0 | 44% | 27% | 46% |
Goat bucks | 70% | 39% | 0 | 29% | 44% | 3% |
Leather making | 29% | 12% | 1 | 0% | 16% | 21% |
Fish farming | 29% | 47% | 0 | 24% | 0 | 31% |
Bee keeping | 19% | 16% | 0 | 8% | 18% | 0 |
Planting fodder crops | 10% | 0% | 20** | 13% | 5% | 18% |
* Bulls have yet to be evaluated as they bought as calves and have taken time to reach maturity.
** Participants reported that there is no land available for planting fodder crops.
2.1 Conclusions on livestock innovations:
Disease management emerges as a clear and affordable favourite innovation. Improved cocks, while effective and beneficial to women, are only affordable to around half of the farmers. Fish farming and leather making are attractive and affordable to a minority of participants. Improved bulls would require major subsidies while goat bucks would need significant access to loan finance or subsidy. Bee keeping is as yet unproven in Chololo.
Natural Resources
3. Natural Resource Innovations (50 participants)
Innovation (natural resources) | Effectiveness | Women benefit | Don’t want | If free | If loan | Own money |
Tree planting | 100% | 68% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80% |
Fuel efficient | 78% | 50% | 0 | 4% | 2% | 66% |
Land use planning | 72% | 54% | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Agroforestry | 32% | 30% | 20%* | 0 | 0 | 64% |
Biogas | 12% | 4% | 2% | 10% | 44% | 0 |
Forest management | 8% | 52% | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
*Participants said would prefer fruit trees (in agroforestry)
Participants were then asked: How can you protect the village land & forest? They responded that since the project interventions, the bylaws regulating forest protection had been enforced, suggesting this was an effective way of protecting the forest.
3.1 Conclusions on natural resource innovations:
Tree planting is the favourite, most beneficial and affordable innovation. Fuel efficient stoves are also a very popular and affordable choice. Land use planning is seen as effective and beneficial. Take up of agroforestry would be enhanced by a focus on fruit trees. Biogas is seen as a minority option for those with access to loan finance.
Water
Water Innovations (55 participants: 31 women)
Participants were asked to rank the effectiveness and gender benefit of water innovations.Personal affordability was not explored as the water innovations are communal resources.Participants were probed to identify the top priority innovations.
Innovation (water) | Effectiveness | Women benefit (women only vote) | Priority |
Borehole rehabilitation | 100% | 100% | 1 |
Roof catchment water harvesting | 100% | 100% | |
Water resource management | 100% | 100% | |
Sand / Sub surface dam | 100% | 27% | 2 |
4.1 Conclusions on water innovations:
All the water innovations were seen as effective, with borehole rehabilitation, and dams as the first and second priority, suggesting that innovations that provide open access to more water are favoured.
New Innovations
What new innovations would you like to see? They replied:
- Irrigation from a new borehole or chacko dam
- Small scale businesses
- Ox carts
Overall Conclusions
The participant scores are analysed in the tables below, using percentage bands from 0-10 (10=high).
Table 1 gives equal weighting for all three criteria.
Rank | Innovation | Effectiveness | Gender | Affordability | Score (+++) |
1 | Disease management | 10 | 9 | 10 | 29 |
2 | Improved seeds | 8 | 10 | 9 | 27 |
3= | Intercropping | 5 | 10 | 10 | 25 |
3= | Good agriculture practices | 5 | 10 | 10 | 25 |
3= | Tree planting | 10 | 7 | 8 | 25 |
6 | Farm yard manure | 6 | 8 | 10 | 24 |
7= | Ox-tillage implements | 8 | 8 | 6 | 22 |
7= | Soil moisture conservation | 8 | 5 | 9 | 22 |
9 | Cocks | 9 | 7 | 5 | 21 |
10= | Fuel efficient stoves | 8 | 5 | 7 | 20 |
10= | Borehole rehabilitation | 10 | 10 | ? | 20 |
10= | Roof catchment water harvesting | 10 | 10 | ? | 20 |
10= | Water resource management | 10 | 10 | ? | 20 |
14 | Sand / Sub surface dam | 10 | 3 | ? | 13 |
15 | land use planning | 7 | 5 | ? | 12 |
16 | Agroforestry | 3 | 3 | 6 | 12 |
17 | Goat bucks | 7 | 4 | 0 | 11 |
18 | Fish farming | 3 | 5 | 3 | 11 |
19 | Bulls | 10 | ? | 0 | 10 |
20= | Leather making | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
20= | Forest management | 1 | 5 | ? | 6 |
20= | Bee keeping | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
23 | Biogas | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
24 | Planting fodder crops | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
25 | Community seed production | 1 | 0 | ? | 1 |
26 | Chololo pits | 0 | 0 | ? | 0 |
Table 2 below ranks the innovations based on affordability alone
Rank | Innovation | Effectiveness | Gender | Affordability | Score (+++) |
1 | Disease management | 10 | 9 | 10 | 29 |
2 | Intercropping | 5 | 10 | 10 | 25 |
2= | Good agricultural practices | 5 | 10 | 10 | 25 |
4 | Farm yard manure | 6 | 8 | 10 | 24 |
5 | Improved seeds | 8 | 10 | 9 | 22 |
6 | Soil moisture conservation | 8 | 5 | 9 | 22 |
7 | Tree planting | 10 | 7 | 8 | 25 |
8 | Fuel efficient stoves | 8 | 5 | 7 | 20 |
9= | Ox-tillage implements | 8 | 8 | 6 | 22 |
9= | Agroforesty | 3 | 3 | 6 | 12 |
11 | Cocks | 9 | 7 | 5 | 21 |
12 | Biogas | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
13 | Fish farming | 3 | 5 | 3 | 11 |
14= | leather making | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
14= | Bee keeping | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
16 | Planting fodder crops | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
17 | Goat bucks | 7 | 4 | 0 | 11 |
18 | Bulls | 10 | ? | 0 | 10 |
19= | Borehole rehabilitation | 10 | 10 | ? | 20 |
19= | Roof catchment water harvesting | 10 | 10 | ? | 20 |
19= | Water resource management | 10 | 10 | ? | 20 |
19= | Sand/sub surface dam | 10 | 3 | ? | 13 |
19= | Land use management | 7 | 5 | ? | 12 |
19= | Forest management | 1 | 5 | ? | 6 |
19= | Community seed production | 1 | 0 | ? | 1 |
19= | Chololo pits | 0 | 0 | ? | 0 |
Table 3 below ranks the innovations giving double weight to affordability, and equal weight to the other two criteria.
Rank | Innovation | Effectiveness | Gender | Affordability | Score (+++) |
1 | Disease management | 10 | 9 | 20 | 39 |
2 | Improved seeds | 8 | 10 | 18 | 36 |
3= | Intercropping | 5 | 10 | 21 | 35 |
3= | Good Agriculture Practices | 5 | 10 | 20 | 35 |
5 | Farm yard manure | 6 | 8 | 20 | 34 |
6 | Tree planting | 10 | 7 | 16 | 33 |
7 | Soil moisture conservation | 8 | 5 | 18 | 31 |
8 | Ox-tillage implements | 8 | 8 | 12 | 28 |
9 | Fuel efficient stoves | 8 | 5 | 14 | 27 |
10 | Cocks | 9 | 7 | 10 | 26 |
11= | Borehole rehabilitation | 10 | 10 | ? | 20 |
11= | Roof catchment water harvesting | 10 | 10 | ? | 20 |
11= | Water resource management | 10 | 10 | ? | 20 |
14 | Agroforestry | 3 | 3 | 12 | 18 |
15 | Fish farming | 3 | 5 | 6 | 14 |
16 | Sand / Sub surface dam | 10 | 3 | ? | 13 |
17 | Land use planning | 7 | 5 | ? | 12 |
18 | Goat bucks | 7 | 4 | 0 | 10 |
19 | Bulls | 10 | ? | 0 | 10 |
20 | Biogas | 1 | 0 | 8 | 9 |
21= | Leather making | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
21= | Bee keeping | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
23 | Forest management | 1 | 5 | ? | 6 |
24 | Planting fodder crops | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
25 | Community seed production | 1 | 0 | ? | 1 |
26 | Chololo pits | 0 | 0 | ? | 0 |
Overall Top Ten Innovations
Rank | Innovation |
1 | Disease management |
2 | Improved seeds |
3 | Intercropping |
4 | Good agricultural practices |
5 | Farm yard manure |
6 | Tree planting |
7 | Soil moisture conservation |
8 | Ox-tillage implements |
9 | Fuel efficient stoves |
10 | Cocks |