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Enhanced Development Agents’ PFM
implementation
Gashaw Tazeb, a development Agent (DA)
for Natural Resources Management,
 lives
in Amhara Region Awi zone Banja Woreda
Asekuna Abbo Kebele . He is responsible
to provide extension service in natural
resources management practices mainly in
forest development and soil and water
conservation and watershed management..
He is newly implementing PFM. He has
shared us his PFM experiences.
A Development Agent has a responsibility
to transfer knowledge to farmers under
his jurisdiction. I am a natural
resources management expert assigned to
this Kebele.
The Ethiopian Government has committed
itself to achieve sustainable management
of forests. However, due to lack of
adequate relevant resources was unable
to achieve it. The Strengthening
Sustainable Livelihoods Forest
Management Programme (SSLFMP) in
Ethiopia is filling this gap. This has
encouraged me to participate in PFM
implementation at Kahtasa Forest site.
The awareness creation process gave us
several lessons on the advantage of
involving the community from the very
beginning of PFM implementation. The
awareness creation sessions served us as
a
means
to acquire indigenous knowledge; the
management recommendations from the
elders and community leaders
smoothed our relationship during
boundary demarcation and forest
resources assessment.
When we introduced PFM to Kahtasa
Forest, people were scared that an NGO
had come to grab the forest and deny
them their forest user rights. While we
were demarcating the forest boundary,
the people were uncomfortable in a
belief that the project will deprive
them their rights to enter into the
forest and harvest resources as they are
used to. Through briefings during
trainings, the mentoring activity and
the knowledge transfer exercises
realizing their decision making rights
has encouraged the community. And they
started to share knowledge and passed
valuable decisions while they learnt
that they are going to mange their
forests.
So far the people had free access to the
Kahtasa forest and its resources. People
used to cut tree from the natural forest
for fire wood, construction of house and
timber production. The cattle graze
freely in the forest. All these
contributed significantly for its
degradation. From the discussion
sessions, we believe that the community
has understood that access to the
forest will be regulated by themselves.
The DAs, in partnership with SSLFMP,
encouraged people to start work to
develop their own means of fuel wood
generation. For the time being, bamboo
seedlings have been distributed. I hope
people will start planting fast growing
trees so as to diversify their energy
sources.
Until the community developed trust and
showed a sign of interest to collaborate
in implementing PFM related activities,
we kept conducting series of
discussions. We brought government
representatives to assist us in
convincing the people that the
government is also aware of the
activities around. The collaboration
with the government cleared the
suspicion and encouraged the people to
contribute their share in resource
assessment and boundary demarcation.
The people agreed to use the non timber
forest products in a sustainable manner
as per the management plan that the plan
preparation committee is developing.
They also identified forest resources
such as medicinal plants, tree seeds and
dead wood that they are going to
harvest. I with the woreda experts and
SSLFM Amhara team will provide technical
backing in preparation of the management
plan.
The Region has a potential for
irrigation. It is possible to involve in
an alternative means of income
generation such as beekeeping,
gardening, developing private forest. My
hope is PFM will supplement their income
by providing rich forest. I appreciate
the contribution of the community to
preserve their forest.
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