Holistic Planned Grazing - Turning the desert green

[Haatu]

[Tallaabo]

Thanks for sharing this wonderful video with us Haatu. I am not certain about it but I heard that in the 1970s the Somali Republic under president Siyaad Barre has such a programme where grazing lands were managed by dividing them into segments where the nomads had access to each segment at a particular period of the year.

[galbeedi]

I do not know any thing about Somali grazing laws in the eighties , but there were some area controlled by the agency of " forestry and grazing". In this semi arid land of the Somalis, all you need is to eliminate open range grazing. Certain open grazing area must be identified and allowed in winter times when the resources are scarce.

 

The problem is we do not even have laws to regulate and manage city life let alone rural area's. Government means registry and regulation and collectively we refused to enforce the laws in order to survive and prosper.

[Haatu]

@Tallaabo

said:

Thanks for sharing this wonderful video with us Haatu. I am not certain about it but I heard that in the 1970s the Somali Republic under president Siyaad Barre has such a programme where grazing lands were managed by dividing them into segments where the nomads had access to each segment at a particular period of the year.

Really? I had no idea about that. I knew about seerayaasha (national parks) but not this. This technique is more than just putting a bit of land aside in case of drought.

[Haatu]

@galbeedi

said:

I do not know any thing about Somali grazing laws in the eighties , but there were some area controlled by the agency of " forestry and grazing". In this semi arid land of the Somalis, all you need is to eliminate open range grazing. Certain open grazing area must be identified and allowed in winter times when the resources are scarce.

 

The problem is we do not even have laws to regulate and manage city life let alone rural area's. Government means registry and regulation and collectively we refused to enforce the laws in order to survive and prosper.

Galbeedi, because this method is so complex, it makes it very difficult to run on a national level, but much more manageable on a local level say on a village basis; which is much more compatible with our temperament and dislike of authority.

 

After the grace of Allah, I fully believe if this method is properly applied everywhere in the country, we will not only stop desertification but reverse it. The cultural and economic benefits that entails are also immeasurable.

 

This might just be what saves us all. But it requires local leadership which means educated folks like us have to take the initiative to learn and take the knowledge back. I for one plan to take it to my village. There is still hope for our countryside.

[Haatu]

This is from a study on HPG in the arid and semi-arid lands in Kenya. The results are very promising indeed:

 

 

There was increase plant cover more than 25%

from May to November rainy season in all sites... Livestock body condition generally

remained the same even during the drought as compared to the

previous years when many animals died due to lack of pasture

and water...

 

This study was conducted in the Booran lands. Their land is just as dry as ours and if they were able to see a result in just 2 years, imagine what can be done on a larger scale?

 

There are beautiful pics from the area towards the end: http://www.mktplace.org/site/images/documents/final-project-reports/ID%20167%20-%20Final%20Project%20Report%20PDF.pdf

[maakhiri1]

It should be tried, and Welcome it, but am bit sceptical, for one I know in SOMALIA we have way too many camels, which danger the environment. This study I reckon does not the address overpopulation and overgrazing!!

[Haatu]

@Maakhiri1

said:

It should be tried, and Welcome it, but am bit sceptical, for one I know in SOMALIA we have way too many camels, which danger the environment. This study I reckon does not the address overpopulation and overgrazing!!

Go back to the video. Overgrazing is either spatial or time dependent. The negative one is the time one (constantly grazing the same place all the time).

[maakhiri1]

Haatu, there is no silver bullet to these global issues, not easy fix, and most of those talks are HOT air, sound very promising, but very unpractical!