Annual Report, 2001

Much of 2001 was devoted to thedevelopment and completion of thenew project document for RELMA’s secondphase, 2002-2006. As this is implemented, there will bea notable change in our mode of operation, with 2002being our transitional period. With these new directions,our operations will gradually adjust so as to adhere tothe guidelines as proscribed in this new projectdocument.In the future we will increase our emphasis onregional activities, at the expense of national activitiesrelevant for one country only. We will more closely linkup with Sida’s bilateral ‘green’ programmes in eachcountry. Instead of implementing practical activitiesourselves, we will strive to increase our collaboration withother institutions. We will work more with markets,farmers cooperation and policies.Why are we making this change It’s entirely basedon facts. Despite many years of work focusing directlyon soil and water conservation and agriculturedevelopment, soils in Africa are continuously depletedand yields are going down. It has become clear thatfactors other than just the on-farm ‘cultivation’ activitiesaffect the farmers’ abilities to manage the land.Therefore, although ‘cultivation’ issues will remain ourcore business, RELMA will increasingly address ‘non-cultivation’ issues.RELMA’s future efforts will concentrate on fourareas of intervention:•Farm production management•Farm output management•Legal, policy- oriented and institutional aspects, and•Advice to Sida.Wedeliberately use the word ‘management’ toindicate that farming is a business and that the farmershould look upon herself or himself as a manager overa piece of land which constitutes a business venture. Evenif that piece is small, the farmer is the one to makedecisions. To succeed, the small-scale land-user mustknow good farming practices, be well informed aboutmarkets and be prepared to cooperate with colleaguesin order to be recognized in the market place andinfluence policies.

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