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SANREM CRSP Long-term research project

Watershed-based Natural Resource Management in Small-scale Agriculture: Sloped Areas of the Andean Region. SANREM CRSP Long-term research project U.S. Research Partners: Virginia Tech, Penn State University, University of Denver, Florida A&M University

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SANREM CRSP Long-term research project

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  1. Watershed-based Natural Resource Management in Small-scale Agriculture: Sloped Areas of the Andean Region SANREM CRSP Long-term research project U.S. Research Partners: Virginia Tech, Penn State University, University of Denver, Florida A&M University International Partners: INIAP (Ecuador), PROINPA (Bolivia), CIP-Lima

  2. Jeffrey Alwang Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech Darrell Bosch, Ag. and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech George W. Norton Ag. and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech Sarah Hamilton, International Development, University of Denver Carola Haas, Fisheries and Wildlife Science, Virginia Tech Mary Leigh Wolfe, Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech Brian Benham, Center for TMDL and Watershed Studies, Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech Paul Backman, Plant Pathology and Biocontrol, Penn State University Jonathan Lynch, Plant Nutrition, Penn State University Wills Flowers, Entomology and Biological Control, Florida A&M University Others: Roberto Quiroz, Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP) Victor Barrera, Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIAP), Ecuador Other Ecuador Institutions: ECOCIENCIA; Sistema de Información Geográfica Agropecuaria (SIGAGRO-MAG), ECOPAR Antonio Gandarillas, Fundación Promoción e Investigación de Productos Andinos (PROINPA), Bolivia Other Bolivian Institutions: Programa Manejo Integrada de Cuencas (PROMIC), Programa Agro Ecológica Universidad de Cochabamba (AGRUCO), Bolivia World Cocoa Foundation Rainforest Alliance

  3. Motivation • Throughout the AR, agriculture, agro-forestry, and natural resource-based products contribute to income and bring economic stability to areas with fragile ecosystems • Productive enterprises in such areas, however, can have major impacts on the environment, through increased soil erosion and loss of soil fertility, agri-chemical runoff, deforestation and other pressure on the resource base, and loss of biodiversity • Mountainous and hillside areas are sparsely populated, characterized by high poverty, limited access to communications and transportation infrastructure, and with weak governing institutions

  4. Motivation • Use of natural assets in productive activities is potentially associated with resource degradation, but under certain conditions intensification of agriculture and other NRM-based activities can be environmentally benign • In AR, widespread adoption of and innovation in natural resource-intensive products are hampered by uncertainty about profitability of “new” income-earning opportunities, technical barriers to production, weak input supply and marketing channels, limited information and lack of institutional support for NRM-related activities

  5. Motivation • Four factors further contribute to non-sustainable integration of economic activities and sound use of natural resources: • 1) lack of attention to growing markets for products with low environmental impact; • 2) inability to reap returns from short- and long-term ecological services; • 3) low economic values of low-impact products; and 4) limited institutional support for and information about NRM alternatives.

  6. Project Objectives • Increase scientific knowledge about how household assets, the policy and social context affect the relationship between management of natural resource-based economic activities and the natural resource base in the AR; • Identify and mitigate constraints to profitability and social acceptability of alternative natural resource-based livelihood strategies and disseminate information about such strategies; • Understand how focused local participation in activities designed to increase incomes and better manage natural resources can build social capital, enhance local governance and contribute to economic and social stability in resource-degraded, relatively remote rural areas; and • Generate information on scaling up of such efforts by replicating the process in the watersheds.

  7. Sites: Chimbo, Ecuador & Tiraque, Bolivia • Ecuador: • Western Andean watersheds include the Guaranda, Chimbo, San Miguel and Chillanes cantons and provide between 30 and 40% of the total water into the Guayas River • Three distinct ecological regions (high plain, Andean plain and subtropical), and four distinct Holdridge zones (subtropical humid forest, low temperate mountain, temperate mountain and boreal) • Range from 300 to 4500 meters in elevation and receive between 500 and 4000 millimeters of annual rainfall

  8. Income Generation in Chimbo

  9. Site: Tiraque, Bolivia • The subwatershed of Toralapa is located in southern Tirqaue Province, in the Department of Cochabamba; • The watershed is comprised of 13 communities, with a population of approximately 3,000, and covers an area of 110 km2; • Elevation between 3700 and 3200 meters, with slopes between 10 and 25% in areas under cultivation and between 20 and 40% in pastured areas. The area is arid and cold, with approximately 350 mm of annual rainfall.

  10. Income Generation Tiraque • Primary economic activities are small-scale agricultural production and livestock. • Potato, beans and small grains • Most output is consumed by the household, but between 20 and 50% is sold. • Women and children participate in agricultural production, with men being responsible for soil preparation, while the rest of the labor is shared. • Livestock is limited to cattle, sheep and pigs, many of which are sold in the local market. • Most other economic activities are linked to agriculture, such as marketing and transport and input supplies. Few communities have local suppliers of agricultural inputs; most inputs come from the larger population centers (Tiraque & Cochabamba).

  11. Activos… O P C I O N ES ...en un Contexto dado determinan Oportunidades &... para Estrategias de vida Logros de bienestar

  12. Research Approach • Analysis of NRM projects and programs in the region • Participatory appraisals and creation of an information baseline • Identification and analysis of alternative livelihood activities • Modeling relationship between spatial spread of alternative livelihood activities and environmental quality, particularly water quality and biodiversity • Monitoring and evaluation of environmental, economic and social dimensions of economic change (application of TMDL approach)

  13. Participatory Activities • A PA in the first year for each site; • Participation in the watershed management process (TMDL) throughout to define goals; identify, evaluate and implement strategies; and monitor outcomes; • Focus-group identification of alternative livelihood activities; • Bi-annual PAs to monitor progress, perceptions and impacts; • Involvement of producers/stakeholders in field-level (and other technical) research in a CIAL-like process; • Involvement, through local governments, community organizations, local schools, etc. in outreach and training.

  14. Year 1 Activities

  15. Thank you!

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