Transforming rice production to sustain socio-ecological services along the Weto mountain range

Overview

The project is focused on two communities are located at the foot of the Weto mountain range. The total population is about 30,000 with an average family size of eight. Most are small-scale farmers and the average household income is about six hundred USD (600USD) per annum.
The landscape consists of savannah in the west and degraded mountain forest in the east. The area is part of a watershed, which provides ecosystem services such as habitat for essential flora and fauna, windbreaks, regular precipitation and home of medicinal plants, ancestral sites and sacred groves. However, the landscape has been degraded and has lost the capacity to provide some of its ecosystem services. This is due to poor management of the landscape, such as unsustainable farming practices, illegal logging, the lack of traditional systems of conservation (protection of sacred groves, watersheds and totems); competition for resources due to population increase; and excessive use of agrochemicals. A survey of the local communities indicated that these challenges have been exacerbated by wildfire, erratic rainfall, poor crop yield, drying up of water sources, and extinction of essential flora and fauna. Addressing these challenges will require education and sensitization, enforcement of conservation laws and observation of COVID 19 protocols, promotion of integrated agriculture and removal of wildfires from the landscape. The project aims to promote large scale organic rice farming and value addition for higher returns replacing from the conventional farming.