Economic development of the zones freed from onchocerciasis

Onchocerciasis Control Programme in the Volta River Basin area Programme de Lutte contre l'Onchocercose dans Ia R6gion du Bassin de la Volta JOINT PROGRAMME COMMITTEE Office of the Chairman JOINT PROGRAMME COWITTEE First session Yamoussoukro, 24-27 November 1980 JPC. CCP COMITE CONJOINT DU PROGRAMMEBureau du Pr6sident JPC1 .4 Part 4 October 1980 t t Provisional agenda item 6 Ministry of Planning Republic of Mali Development Planning in the Onchocerciasis Economic Zone Project FAO-I NDP-RAF 7 4043 B.P. 1761 - Tel. 252-85 Koulouba, Mali ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF TTIE ZONES FREED FROM ONCHOCERCIASIS As it enters its third decade of development, the Republic of Mali is conscious ofthe need for a ne!, aPProach to economic and social development in addition to the centralist approach that has been and is sti1l being applied to major projects of national importance. This new approach, which has been confirmed and consolidated by Mali's recentpolitical choice, will concentrate on strengthening the basic unit, that is on economic and social development of the vi11age, the most stable and long-standing political, economic and social entity in the country. Ttris involves preParation and implementation of small-scale plans for the integrated development of a number of groups of villages representing the various ecological and human systems found in I'Ia1i, with the partici pation of the population s concerned at eve of the rocess. Ttre aim is to gain practical experience in the design and execution of plans for integrated village development before the method is gradually extended to the whole country. Last January, therefore, Ehe Minister of Planning chaired a meeting, attended by various ministries, with this objective in mind. It was decided that the planning Unitfor the zones freed from onchocerciasis, which was doing similar work in its area of operation, would be made responsible for conducting the pilot operations that woulddetermine the parameters of the new methodology before the phase of general application was launched. Ihe operations in view are expected to take all aspects of development into account. agronomy - in the widest sense of the term (pedology, agriculture, stock-raising), hydrology and hydrogeolory, health, education, energy, connmrnications, housing, forestry, small lndusEries, crafts, etc. JPC1 .4 Part 4 page 2 1. The pilot villages For the pilot project stage, tr^7o pilot zoles have been chosen in which small-sca1e plans will be drawn up and carried out. One is in Koulikoro region and the other in Sikasso region; each zone covers an area of 4OO km2 and contains ten or so villages, tr^7o of which have been selected for the experiment. Itre selected villages in Koulikoro region, Donobougou (population 456) and D6ni6koro(population 996) are about 20 lan to the south-east of Dioila. Donobougou and D6ni6koro are about 4 km apart; the former is less than 2 km from the Koba, a nonpermanent tributary of the Bago6, which it enters at the head of the plain. Ihis means that the improvement of agriculture in the two villages is conditional on development of the Koba valley, an area in which rice used to be grown before the drought in t972-74. Development operations would involve about 1OO ha and would aim at reintroducing the culti- vatlon of rice and aE introducing irrigated farming in the cold season. In Sikasso region, the villages chosen were Pikoro (population 650) and Founa (population IOOO) in the administrative district of Yorosso, a few kilometres to the south-west of Koury. These two villages are also at the head of a long plain, although, where they are, Ehere are actually three separaEe little plains with a total surface area of about 1OO ha, beyond wtrich the valley stretches southwards over an area of over 1500 ha. the whole basin is watered by surface runoff, which lasts unEil February. Crops may be grown in the cold season in this area, where the villagers now cultivate rice with yields of 1.8 f/ina. Ttrese villages were chosen because they are more or less typical of the average Malian village, i.e. an average population of 750, O.3 ha cultivated per inhabitant, one or tr{o non- permanent traditional we11s, 1ittle in the way of health or educational infrastructure, considerable ecological damage, no permanent means of access, etc. 2. Background data No development can be undertaken without a proper knowledge of the area concerned. The Preparatory study for the next economic and social development p1an, which was made it 1979, has provided some information on the 10 OOO villages in Mali as a who1e. However, such data is insufficient in the context of a development plan at village 1evel. This would require aerial mapping on a large enough scale (1:15 OO0) to provide information on the geomorphology, potential and utilization of the land. Maps are to be prepared for each of these components. Contacts have been made with the National Geographical Institute, which has given an estimaEe for the work involved, and the World Bank has agreed, in principle, that some of the funds it has made available should be used for this purpose. 3. [rlater Water is the principal problem in the countries of the Sahel in general and in Mali in particular. Most villages in Mali are entirely or almost entirely without water for three months, during which period the women have to travel long distances at least twice a day to fetch water. Considerable efforts to supply villages with water are now being made by the public authorities, with bilateral and multilateral assistance. this work, however, only meets part of the requirements. The villagers are left to do the rest themselves. They try to cope with their needs by digging wells manually, but this causes a number of problems: - A well dug by hand does not penetrate very deeply below the water-table because there are no adequate means for pumping it out while digging is in progress. Such wells often dry up in the hot, dry season; t I t IJPC1 .4 ParL 4 page 3 - in areas where the groundwater is a long way below'the land surface, or where the ground is too hard, the population cannot overcome the problems involved in well- digging; - where the mouth of the rn7e11 is not provided with a curb the ensuing pollution and damage to the well mouth may in the long run lead to abandonment of the welI. To solve the r^rater problem, a drilling progranme needs to be launched in the villages. In this way each pilot village could be provided with tr.lo modern (dril1ed) wel1s fitted r^rith(solar) pumps to eliminate the chore of fetching water and reduce water-borne parasitic diseases. Drilling has already been carried out at Founa and Pikoro and pumps will be installed on the drilled we11s as soon as possible. 4. Stock-raising Before the drought of. 1972-74, YIaLL's principal wealth was its livestock. Restocking of the depleted herds is still going on, but the main problem is water, particularly in the Sahelian regions of Mali, which are overcrowded and short of water and pasEurage. lhe problem needs to be tackled at national level by organizing the transfer of people and livestock from the north to the vast plains in the south of the country. At village leve1, a local livesEock fattening programne is needed. This would have three objectives: - to produce meat for the domestic market and for export; to produce draught oxen for farm work; to ensure that slaughterhouses are kept operating at fu11 capacity by means of a system of short-term fattening (four months) for old animals intended for slaughter, and a system of long-term fattening (18 mqnths) for young animals intended, after selection, for breeding purposes, farm work or slaughter. 5. Energy Although Mali is now developing its own major national sources of energy (Se1ingu6 in the near future and Mantali towards the middle of the decade), many viLlages and small towns are sEill outside the present-day distribution netrilorks and will remain so. At present the general practice is to use paraffin lamps for lighting and wood for cooking. The consumption of paraffin, which is almost all used in lamps, is increasing every year. For the last three years, Ehe mean annual figure spent on imports of paraffin,paraffin lamps, and spare chimneys and wicks was of the order of L5OO million Mali francs. some way of producing energy in rural areas therefore has to be found. Ihe most widespread and Eechnically developed option is an electricity generating plant,but its mai.ntenance and operating costs are high and the source of energy is wholly imported. Another technical option that is being developed is to turn vegetable refuse into gasthat can then be used as an engine fuel. This is an up-to-date version of the gas generator used in the last war. Ttre technique has been taken up again by a number of European indus-trialists and seems now to be at a stage that is advanced enough to be introduced experimentallyinto the economic, social and ecological environment of the Sahe1, using straw or cotton stalks as fuel. I JPC1 .4 Part 4 page 4 This form of small rural power plant offers many advantages, the most important of which are: the generation of electricity to provide for the irrigation of low-lying land in the cold season (double-cropping) and the partial electrification of villages, which will transform rural living conditions ; the production of charcoal, which will reduce or halt ecological damage and relieve women of rm:ch of the chore of collecting wood. A request for approximately 2OO OOO dollars to fund a gas generating project has been submitted to the EDF. Biogas is a third option and should meet the needs of cooking and domestic lighting. the by-producE of the biogas process is a compost, which is more effective than ploughing-in straw and costs practically nothing, especially when compared with imported fertilizers. FAO has expressed its willingness to finance a pilot unit and a request is on the point of being submitted to that organization. A fourth option, for which there is widespread enthusiasm, is to use solar energy. Ihe equiPment is very expensive at present, but trials of its use in rural areas are a must, as solar enerry is the future answer to all energy problems in developing countries. Besides the solar pump, units for lighting villages and for the storage of foodstuffs and medicaments ought to be tested in situ. Funds will need to be sought for this. 6. Prevention of wastage in harvested crops Self-sufficiency in food is a matter of top priority in African countri-es. In addition to rdater management operations and the introduction of high-yield varieties, further efforts nnrst be made at local level to prevent wastage in harvested crops. Losses estimated at 25% make this an essential task and have led to a project for Ehe purpose that will analyse the wastage occurring in the fields, traditional silos and rural shops and will look for ways of reducing such wastage through the development and general introduction of types of family silo that are less vulnerable to rodents and insects and make maximum use of local mat.erials, and through the development and general introduction of high-yield mi1let and sorghum husking mills that will relieve ruomen of the exhausting chore of pounding these cereals. These efforts, for which FAO is providing $ 3O5 OOO should lead to the development of the most appropriate storage technologies and allow a national programme to be draum up for reducing wastage in harvested crops. 7. As far as developing and increasing the value of non-cultivated crops (shea (karit6) nuts locust beans, gum-arabic, honey and wild rice and fonio (Digitaria exilis), etc. ) are concerned , the shea nut is of primary interest. Ihe shea tree grows on the savanna and produces a fruiE with a pericarp rich in vitamins and sugars that is eaten when fresh. Ihe stone contains a vegetable butEer thaE is the principal fat in use in rural areas. The butEer is extracted by the women, using simple manual methods that give a low yie1d. There are plans Eo increase the yield by 3OO% by developing suitable sma11 presses. Ihis shoutd increase the income from this source by t2 thousand million Mali francs a year, as well as relieving rural women of the Iaborious \^7ork of processing shea nuts. The Swiss cooperation agency has promised to finance the project. In the same context, there will be studies and specific projects on locust.beans(extraction of proteins), fruit (drying and preservation), honey (improved bee-keeping) and gum-arabic. t I \JPC1 .4 Part 4 page 5 As for social welfare, a projecE to improve the position of women in rural areas has been prepared for submission to ITNICEF. ltris wiLl deal with the problem of the exhausting domestic chores that fal1 to the 1ot of rural r/omen (water-carrying, pounding cereals, wood gathering, extraction of shea butter) by extending the scope of the projects mentioned above. A project to improve the position of the blind has been prepared. It will find out how the blind fit into traditional production structures, list suitable technologies that they can use and deal with their integration into village 1ife. Funds for a project of this nature are still to be found. 8. Rural housing and roads People living in the savanna and Sahel areas spend over trvo months each year in building and repairing dwellings and storehouses, whose walls are of rmrd and are thus eroded by the rains. It would seem feasible to improve housing by employing long-extant earEh stabiLization techniques, provided a lvay of producing hydraulic binders can be found. An answer to this problem would be to use whatever sma1l deposits of limestone and dolomite there are to produce lime cheaply. ltris would mean that stabilized earth bricks could be brought into general use in rural areas for building houses, dispensaries, maternity units, schools, etc. the use of lime-stabilized earth for road building could also be tried out to determine what its building and maintenance costs and durability would be. Wtratever the technique used, some permanent solution unrst be found to the rural road problem to al1ow villages to deliver their produce in all weathers and keep in touch with other villages, as well as to give agricultural machinery access to cropland. 9. Ten-year Development Plan Ttre delay in getting Project n*ft+fo+l under way and the lag in rhe LA,t{DosAT projecr have meant that the studies aimed at acquiring a more detailed background knowledge of the zones freed from onchocerciasis for the purpose of preparing a ten-year development plan had not been fu1ly completed by the date originally set. Ilowever, it should be noted that the planning methodology for the economic development of the zones freed from onchocerciasis provided, at the outset, for a combination of external aid from three sources: (1) Establishment of a Planning UniE - IINDP - $ SOO OOO. (2) Collection of basic data by satellire - USAID + FAC - $ : OOO OOO. (3) Planning of specific projecrs - World Bank - $ SOO OOO. Since its establishment the Planning Unit has endeavoured to get the other Ewo projects started, as they are indispensable for the preparation of a developoent plan for the OnchoZone. Concurrently, it has set out to collect and consolidate the available base-li.ne data on the zone, in conformity with the objectives gi-ven in the project document. lhe Data Bank now has infornration available on the following: - agrlculture . potential for dry and irrigated farming total surface area at present under crops (number of farms, number of plots, cultivated area per inhabitant and per person working on the land, annualyields, etc. ) I JPC1 .4 Part 4 page 6 . agricultural equipment . livestock social infrastnrctures dispensaries, maternity units, health care centres, rural pharmacies and pharmaceutical depots schools (number of classes, number of pupils per school year, school attendance rate, percentage of girls, etc.), education centres, rural schools . I{ater points per village (traditional and modern weIls, period of water shortage) - road network (including unmetalled roads) - industrial infrastructure climatology (precipitation, duration of insolation, temperature, winds) surface water (specific rates of flow for irrigation and hydroelectric purposes) - human resources (number of villages, population by age-group and sex) list of projects in progress and planned in the zone, including funds involved and objectives. the further basic data needed for the development plan are as follows: Soils. Pedological studies need to be carried out on the geomorpholory, potentj.al and utilizaEion of the land. A request on the matter was submitted to the Netherlands C,overnment following the aerial survey by KLI'I Aerocarto in the Mali-Sud zone. Un- fortunately, there has been no outcome to this request. - Forest and plant cover, mineral resources, groundwater. these data will be provided by LAI.IDSAT, which began receiving its first pictures in early 1980. Ilowever, additional work will be needed on the ground to supplement the LANDSAT data. - Human health survey. Itris is now being prepared by the interministerial team set up at the beginning of the year; the field workwilLbegin at the end of the wet season. this note, which is not exhaustive, does not preEend to provide the best and most coherent approach to development. It is no more Ehan a partial contribution to the solution of a number of fundamental problems and perhaps has only the merit of making some proposals that may help to solve these problems. I Y t I I