Laying the Foundations for Effective Landscape-Level Planning for Sustainable Development in the SAGCOT Corridor: Ihemi agricultural development cluster
Almost 80% of the population in the SAGCOT corridor derive their livelihoods from agriculture and depend highly on natural resources for charcoal, beekeeping, etc. Laying the Foundations for Effective Landscape-Level Planning for Sustainable Development (LiFELand) aimed to promote sustainable intensification in a large agricultural landscape of the Ihemi cluster, by generating information for dialogue in evidence-driven processes for planning sustainable development within the cluster. Elsewhere in the world, corridor development has resulted in the displacement of relatively diverse agricultural production systems by large-scale monoculture.
This project focused on helping local institutions, investors and policy makers to build robust, evidence-driven processes for planning sustainable development within the cluster. It sought to complete a comprehensive baseline survey of agricultural yields and farmer income within the cluster, with particular focus on female headed farming households, the most vulnerable group of farmers. It assessed water resources within the cluster, a key natural resource constraint for agriculture, identified and filled data gaps, and modeled different scenarios for the expansion of agriculture, looking for the most sustainable options. Findings were fed into planning processes within and beyond the Ihemu cluster.
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WLE's regional program in the Nile and East Africa Region (WLE Nile-East Africa) was a research-for-development initiative that sought to restore and bolster opportunities for increased agricultural productivity through key ecosystem services, especially in the resource poor areas of the region. WLE Nile-East Africa was one of four regional programs of WLE, which also included the Ganges, Greater Mekong, and Volta/Niger.