Katsina State Agricultural and Community Development Project

Katsina State Agricultural and Community Development Project

The problem of land degradation is particularly serious in the northern area of Nigeria on the border with Niger. Land there is arid, agriculturally marginal, environmentally fragile and densely populated. Settlers have encroached on communal grazing land, and high winds and flash floods have caused heavy erosion. Water is scarce and vegetation is depleted either as a result of overcultivation or overgrazing.

The project was designed to assist the newly created state of Katsina in building capacity to address the problem of population pressure on fragile resources. It worked to increase food production and thereby improve incomes and food security for the poorest villages, especially small-scale farmers with less than 2 ha of land, households headed by women, and landless people. The goal was to halt and reverse environmental degradation and improve resource management at community level. Project components included:

• land conservation, repasturing and reforesting
• introduction of small-scale irrigation schemes
• village and community development to improve basic services
• improving access to credit
• technical assistance and training

The project used widespread cultivation of vetiver and andropogon grasses as cost-effective methods of land conservation. These drought-resistant grasses help protect fragile soils by providing natural barriers to wind and water erosion, and are also a source of fodder for livestock grazing.

Source: IFAD