Integrated natural resource management in practice: enabling communities to improve mountain livelihoods and landscapes

During the eighties, heads of NARS and the IARCs operating in the region expressed concern at the decline in productivity in the highlands of Eastern and Central Africa in spite of adequate rainfall and relatively heavy investment in research and extension. This situation was generally attributed to inability of the farmers to invest adequately on maintenance and improvement of land productivity, including control of soil erosion, crop pests and diseases. It was further observed that the opportunities offered by collaborative and systems research, were not being exploited. ICRAF was therefore requested to coordinate the development of an integrated natural resource management research programme for the highlands of Eastern and Central Africa. A consultative study was launched under the guidance of a joint Task Force comprising of representatives of NARS, IARCs and interested donor agencies. The result of this exercise was “A Conceptual Framework” which formed the basis for the launching of the African Highlands Initiative (AHI) and its subsequent adoption as the first regional programme under the auspices of the newly established ASARECA. The AHI has become a model of tenacious effort to establish a new method of adding value to commodity and disciplinary research and enlisting the participation of stakeholders to find sustainable solutions to problems of natural resource management and improvement in land productivity. Progress is being made, but evolution of more effective and efficient methods and mechanisms for integrated approach to management of natural resources at farm and watershed levels remains the biggest challenge to the AHI.

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