This chapter briefly reviews three soil and water conservation and reforestation projects which illustrate the use of incentives to encourage community involvement. They include two national projects in Ethiopia and Korea and one local project in Honduras.
The case studies are analyzed as follows:
- Project name and country
- Initial problem
- Objectives
- Scope
- The Project: Description of activities
Goals
Achievements
- Organization and incentives: State participation
Participation of other national groups
Participation of other countries or international organizations
Community participation
- Conclusions: Major achievements
Major constraints
Final remarks
- References
The Peasant Associations of Ethiopia have become one of the nation's major resources for development.
This three-stage project took place in Ethiopia from 1974 to 1983 (Bochet, 1983) (FAO, 1983) (FAO/WFP, 1984 ) (Sandahl, 1978):
- Terrace reforestation
- Farmland protection and rehabilitation
- Farmland, forest and rangeland rehabilitation
Ethiopia, with a population of nearly 29 million, is one of the sixth poorest countries in the world. Some 81 percent of the labour force works in the agricultural sector, primarily in upland areas. At one time, 40 percent of the country was forested, but forest cover had dwindled to 16 percent by the fifties. Only 3 or 4 percent of the country is now forested.
The country suffers periodically from severe drought. Deforestation has caused erosion, loss of productivity and devastating floods in lowland areas. An estimated 1 600 million tons of topsoil are lost every year. The upshot is severe famine: the most recent famine, which began in the seventies, was catastrophic.
The extreme situation forced people to meet fuel needs by burning manure, producing charcoal from the few remaining trees, gathering shrubs and grasses, illegally cutting trees on public land, etc. - all of which served to advance the state of decline .
Following the drought, a determined effort was launched to halt land degradation.
Three ongoing conservation projects began in 1974 with the participation of national agencies, international assistance, bilateral agreements and the local communities. The project objectives were and are:
- Sustained yield production of fuelwood and building materials for local consumption.
- Better farming conditions through conservation and improvement of local micro-climates.
- Soil and water conservation and rehabilitation of degraded lands.
- Local self-sufficiency in fuelwood and other products; local development components such as schools.
- Demonstration of the link between erosion and soil use to local population to improve both land use planning and personnel training.
The scope of the project has changed over a period of time. In 1974 it was initially a small-scale local experiment. The work was later expanded to 119 scattered sites where peasants had expressed a desire to cooperate with the project. In the latest phase, which began in 1980, the scope of the project became nationwide, focusing primarily on major, minor and micro-watersheds (roughly 1 000 ha each).
This project is based on the joint action of the Organization for the Conservation and Development of Forests, Fauna and Flora, the Peasant Associations, the World Food Programme (WFP), FAO, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and bilateral aid agreements. The community is organized into Peasant Associations (PA) which are legally backed by the 1975 Agrarian Reform Law.
The following have been the main project activities:
- Planning activities in each watershed based on investigation of local request
- Massive training for conservation experts and rural development agents
- Construction of terraces on very steep but cultivable slopes
- Reforestation of steep degraded slopes with fodder and fuelwood tree species (particularly Leucaena and Eucalyptus)
- Planting fruit and nut trees
- Construction of access roads
- Construction of dykes to prevent ditch erosion plus other torrent control works
- Restricting grazing lands
- Controlled grazing
- Construction of schools and other community centres
- Reforestation of school woodlots.
The available documents on the project list no national level objectives, but given the fact that planning of torrent control works for entire watersheds is a project objective, in the last stage of the project which began in 1980, goals have definitely been established in accordance with available resources.
In the first stage of the project which began in 1974, 5 700 ha were reforested in five years, including terracing and access roads. During the second stage, 1975-1980, the project expanded to 119 sites, which were treated on a one-by-one basis in accordance with needs.
In the first three years of the third phase (1980-1982), which ran until 1984, major progress was achieved:
- A total of 104 soil conservation experts and 650 rural development agents received training
- A total of 34.3 million working days were spent on conservation works
- Torrent control works with 8 000 Peasant Associations benefiting 25 000 people
- Terracing works on 125 000 ha of farm land and 20 400 ha of slopes
- Reforestation of 70 750 ha.
- 30 000 fruit trees planted and 20 000 km of terraces planted with grass
- Construction of 4 200 km of roads, 400 ponds and 15 earth dykes
- 20 000 ha declared off-limits for grazing
The work targeted 19 watersheds and will continue on 16 more.
- Activities financed by national budget
- Selection of intervention areas by field agents
- Promotion of conservation activities
- Joint planning of area activities with Peasant Associations
- Preparation of contracts for execution of works with Peasant Associations
- Post-agrarian reform land tenure guarantee of up to 10 ha to each peasant family
- Technical assistance by 2 000 rural development agents
- Supply of plants; transport of plants over long distances; training
- Supply of construction materials such as corrugated iron, nails and cement
WFP, FAO and bilateral aid contributed to the Ethiopa project.
The WFP contribution totaled US$ 160 900 000, mainly in food rations consisting of 3 kg of wheat or maize and 120 g of vegetable oil for each working day on conservation projects. This is food-for-work based on specific standards per job and for periods of time until investment matures.
FAO/UNDP has provided technical assistance, particularly to train experts required by the Government. The World Bank is also involved, in the context of an even larger scale development programme. This programme supplies part of the Government funds.
Through its Peasant Associations, the community contributes:
- Agricultural land, deforested land and forest remnants
- Hand tools
- Local transport, usually pack animals
- Manual work mobilized for individual or communal tasks
- Organization, through the participation of the Peasant Association in the annual
planning of works, mobilization of peasants and distribution of food
The Peasant Associations in Ethiopia have become one of the country's major resources for development work. The objectives achieved in the final stage of the project speak for themselves
The project has clearly demonstrated that plant and tree cover can be reestablished even on completely exhausted soils, which holds out new hope for rural development
The participation of the local authorities became increasingly effective from the first to the final phase
The concentration of activities on specific watersheds proved to be the best approach to the problem
There was a spectacular increase in fodder production, in conjunction with the regeneration of pasture lands declared off-limits to grazing. There were marked advances in soil conservation.
An economic rate of return of 10 percent (and up to 20 per cent with more modest investments in terracing) proved a major incentive to community participation
Turning responsibility over to the farmers worked very well. There were no abuses. In fact, peasants contributed one day a week on a voluntary basis.
Coordination and linkage among the various agencies intervening could have been better
The project got off to a very slow start, as the State agencies originally thought that demonstrations on small areas would be sufficient to induce farmers to carry on the work on their own
State agencies should: strengthen the technical assistance staff to accelerate the execution of works; strengthen planning structures and have Peasant Associations participate in project preparation as well as the annual plan of work; rotate field staff less frequently and provide better field transport; provide more inputs and more educational materials; draw up specific standards for Peasant Associations on the use of off-limits or restricted grazing lands.
The Ethiopia project is a clear demonstration of the importance of specific elements in the success of forestry and conservation programmes:
- Food for work proved a decisive incentive in land treatments. Another interesting fact of note is that the Peasant Associations themselves took charge of distributing rations and there were no abuses. The limited economic capacity of the community was partially offset by food for work
- Secure land tenure, the acute fuelwood and food supply problem and Government encouragement all had an enormous impact on peasant involvement in the various conservation works. Secure land tenure overcame the problem of guaranteeing that the peasant would be able to harvest the long cycle crops he had planted. One decisive element was the existence of the Peasant Associations, which organized the community to cope with the work of the project and collaborated in planning the annual work
- The poverty of the Ethiopian peasant has forced him to seek the solution to social, individual and community poverty through the union of Peasant Associations. At the same time notable advances have been made in the recovery of degraded natural resources.
The project in this case study is a national plan, made of many specific projects implemented at the level of the Village Forestry Associations, as part of Korea's ten-year reforestation plan (Bochet, 1983) (Bong Won Ahn, 1978) (Gregersen, Contreras, 1979) (FAO/SIDA, 1983) (FAO/WFP, 1984).
As in many countries, Korea's forests were formerly considered a barrier to human development, inasmuch as they constituted a barrier to agriculture. Between the fourteenth and twentieth centuries, under the Yi Dynasty, private ownership of forests was forbidden as rapid population growth threatened to make fuelwood scarce.
A popular tradition arose of communal access to forests for gathering fuelwood, a tradition which still exists today. The principle of private ownership of forest land was re-established in the early part of this century, but the tradition of communal use continued. Consumption for this purpose amounted to approximately 8 million m3 of wood each year for fuelwood. In a country where 70 percent of the land area is mountainous and the population density is 316 inhabitants/k2, a new need arose to establish forests to meet energy requirements. Forest resources are highly subdivided into pockets averaging under 10 ha and belonging to some 1.5 million households. Seventy-three percent of the forest is privately owned, 20 percent is State-owned and seven percent is community-owned.
This situation gave rise to extensive forest degradation, erosion and serious problems of torrent control and sediment transport to the lower part of the drainage basin. The people also resorted to all sorts of organic matter in an attempt to secure fuel, including manure, leaf litter, branches and crop stubble, thus further impoverishing the soil. This being the situation, after several attempts to increase the size of forest plantations in the fifties and sixties, the decision was made to launch a ten-year plan for reforestation (The Green Plan) as part of "Saemaul Undong" (New Community Movement).
The ten-year reforestation plan came into effect in 1973 with the introduction of the following series of measures:
- Reinforcement of forestry administration
- Extension and publicity campaign to convince people of the need to renew forest cover and adopt fuel-saving measures
- Reinforcement of regulations prohibiting the gathering of leaves, grass and leaf litter for fuel in forest areas
- Introduction of a national reforestation scheme designed to establish a well-managed fuelwood plantation (woodlot) within the proximity of each village, to be planted by the villagers themselves.
The objectives of this reforestation scheme are:
- A solidly established agriculture to keep peasants on the land
- An increase in fuelwood production based on sustained yield
- Rehabilitation of degraded land
- An increase in the production of nuts, fruits and other forest products
- To provide a stimulus for community organization and the cooperative movement.
By 1978 the plan had been reformulated to establish henceforth industrial plantations for the supply of forest products.
The ten-year plan is nationwide in scope, but executed at village level. There are parallel and corresponding channels of communication between the State Authorities and the private owners, communities and landless villagers also participating in the project.
Activities centre on the Village Forestry Association, which, with State support and a membership composed of owners of forests and forest land and landless villagers, engage in the following activities:
Forest protection:
- forest patrols
- prevention and elimination of forest fires
- improved heating and cooking facilities
- protection of national forests
Reforestation and silviculture:
- establishment of community tree nurseries
- work in tree nurseries run by the State and the National Federation of Forestry
Association Unions
- reforestation: fuelwood plantations
- fertilization of forest plantations
Activities entrusted by the State to the Village Forestry Association :
- management of private forests including agreement on yield sharing by public law
- management of private forests via agreement for voluntary management with yield sharing
- management of forests rented by the State to the Associations
Activities to promote the common welfare of members of the Village Forestry Associations:
- collection and sale of fibres for wallpaper
- collection and sale of bark
- raising, picking and selling edible mushrooms.
The goal of the ten-year reforestation plan is to reforest one million hectares of forest between 1973 and 1983 on degraded mountain land where possible including erosion control.
During the first five years of the plan, i.e. 1973-1977, 851 000 ha were forested. It is therefore hoped that the one million ha goal will be overshot by the end of the decade.
Achievements included:
- reforestation of 132 000 ha with walnut and chestnut trees
- reforestation of 215 000 ha with fast-growing species
- reforestation of 208 000 ha with fuelwood plantations
- reforestation of 296 000 ha with industrial plantations
In addition, 21 109 Village Forestry Associations were set up in 3 400 villages, covering ten percent of the country.
- Distribution of pesticides and natural enemies of pests (biological control) for pest control
- Payment of salaries for pest control in Government-owned forests
- Contracts with the village nurseries to supply seedlings; advances for the purchase of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides
- Paid work and training for peasants in State nurseries
- Studies on fuelwood demand in villages
- Orders for compulsory reforestation for private owners or to lend their services to the village should they be unable to reforest
- Supply of plants, fertilizers and payment of salaries to extension agents for reforestation of village forests
- Supply of fertilizers for fuelwood plantation management
- Similar Government collaboration for plantations used for purposes other than fuelwood production
- Technical assistance in forestry work
- Leasing of State lands for reforestation and transfer of lands to villages where reforestation has been successful
- Extension of State loans to the Central Forestry Association Union to fund communities in advance for gathering forest by-products
- Secure land tenure and access to land for landless peasants through the Village Forestry Associations.
a) The Village Forestry Associations belong to a Central Forestry Association Union, in turn members of the National Federation of Forestry Association Unions. These bodies offer a series of services and incentives to the Village Forestry Associations:
- Paid work and training for peasants in the nurseries of the Union of Forestry Associations
- Collaboration on village fuelwood demand studies
- Selection of fuelwood plantation reforestation sites
- Preparation of reforestation plans by the Union
- The Federation, Government and purchasers establish the amounts and prices of such by-products as mushrooms, nuts, fibres, etc. In this instance, the Federation is very helpful in providing bargaining power
- The Federation channels Government loans or advances by purchasers of by-products to the Association as a production incentive
- The Union obtains the necessary permits for removal and for production of by-products, and supervises activities
- The Union provides mushroom planters with mycelium
b) Purchasers of by-products advance funds to the Associations for production of forest by-products.
c) Forest owners:
- Contract the paid services of the Associations, particularly for reforestation and silvicultural work
- Owners draw up agreements with the Associations. The income distribution rate is ten percent for the owner and ninety percent for the villagers.
Between 1967 and 1973 one FAO/UNDP project for the development and management of mountain watersheds and a second forest inventory and development project were in operation in Korea.
WFP also contributed US$ 6.4 million of food rations to the FAO/WFP project .
The community participated through its Village Forestry Associations as follows:
Forest patrols for the prevention of forest fires and other damage (unpaid work)
Pest control by fumigation or biological control. This is voluntary work, except in the State forests, where it is paid on a daily basis
Volunteer work: putting out forest fires and enforcing forest rules and regulations
Work in the nurseries of the Association, Union, State and Industry
Volunteer work in the establishment and management of community woodlots
Paid work in the State forests and forests belonging to owners who can afford to pay salaries
Agreements to work on a profit-sharing basis for owners who cannot afford to pay.
The plan drew upon earlier experiences in Korea, systematically consolidating and expanding them
The community forestry effort has been a huge success, its objectives were fully achieved well in advance of the close of the plan
The Association's work is partly due to Government pressure and a massive Government publicity and promotion campaign, but the enthusiasm, interest and voluntary participation of the community were an equally important factor
The results were spectacular in terms of environmental improvement, increased income from forestry activities, increasing fuelwood supplies and curbing erosion and soil degradation
The plan's wide-angle focus, within the Saemaul Undong context (which covers the community in general - not just the forest) appears to have been a decisive factor. The participation of the Federations, Unions and Associations in a top to bottom, bottom-to-top planning system was also a decisive factor in the success of the plan
Realizing that peasants need to earn money, a realistic approach was adopted with priority to both short- and long-term benefits
There was an intensive research and technical assistance effort, with each action precisely planned
Government incentives were clear and pertinent, as were the laws regulating resource use.
The compulsory nature of some aspects of the plan such as the order to private owners
to reforest, the order to villagers to plant and the order to owners unable to pay for
services to share harvests
The popularity of measures which ran contrary to traditional custom such as restriction of
private ownership under the forestry development law, replacement of traditional rice
straw roofs by zinc or tiled roofs to economize potential fuel and fertilizer, etc.
Korea's ten-year forestry development plan was a complete success from which we can
learn a number of important lessons:
- No forestry and conservationist development plan can be carried out without massive,
committed, organized participation by the rural population. Such participation also
provides the only real assurance of continuity
- The presence of peasant representative bodies at all administrative levels through their provincial and national Unions and Federations was a key factor in the success of the plan
- The plan's flexibility and practical, simple approach and methods were fundamental. Volunteer work was supplemented by funding which allowed the plan to proceed smoothly.
The experience gathered from the plan encouraged the Government to plan a second stage, focusing on reforestation of industrial forests (Korea is presently an importer of forest products). Imports can be reduced through the establishment of plantations of fast-growing species. The success of the second stage of the plan seems assured.
The initial approach in Honduras was to provide a daily food ration for each working day. This was very costly in terms of food supplied per hectare treated, and so was supplemented by a specific number of rations for a specific job, i.e. standard yields.
The "Integrated Watershed Management Project" was set up in Honduras under the Honduran State Corporation for Forestry Development (COHDEFOR), FAO, UNDP and the Honduran-German Food for Work Cooperation (COHAAT). Project dates were March 1976 to December 1980. The first project called "Planning and Management of Watersheds Affected by Hurricane Fifi" from 1976 to 1978 was followed by a second project "Integrated Watershed Management" from 1978 to 1980. (Bauer, 1980) (Bochet, 1983) (de Camino, 1979)(Dongelmans, 1980) (FAO, 1981) (FAO/SIDA, 1980) (Hidalgo, 1981) (Michaelsen, 1977) (Rodriguez, 1980).
On Honduras's Northern coast as- in many- other parts of the country a typical Central American land use pattern clashes with capacity and produces watershed degradation.
Peasant pressure on the land (which is not available to them in the low, fertile valleys) forces the peasants to occupy the steeply sloping upland areas which they cultivate by slash and burn and shifting cultivation techniques. This is the phenomenon described in paragraph 3.1.2. as the latifundio-minifundio complex.
The project site selected exhibits a number of the consequences of this process. Soils subjected to shifting cultivation are degraded, lose fertility, and make the farmer poorer as he moves on in search of new land.
The accelerated erosion process unleashed has its repercussions on lowland areas in the form of floods, damage to crops and to agricultural and civic structures, road damage, pollution and contamination of drinking water, etc.
Weather-occasioned disasters are frequent in Central America. In 1974 Honduras was severely affected by Hurricane Fifi, which produced floods and landslides causing serious losses on the Northern coastal mountain chain (Sierra de Omoa). Losses amounted to 45 968 ha of crops (13.5 percent of the maize crop and 28.3 percent of the rice crop), 225 000 head of cattle (four percent of cattle production) and 610 ha of landslides with tragic consequences.
The hurricane tragedy served as a warning of the threat implicit in soil degradation and deforestation of mountain watersheds. The reaction was the "Integrated Watershed Management Project" which began in the Sierra de Omoa, spread to Lake Yojoa and thence to the Agúan Basin.
The central objective of the project was defined as optimum use of watershed lands, considering production as well as soil and forest conservation and torrent control.
The concrete objectives to be achieved at COHDEFOR headquarters and project sites were:
- At COHDEFOR, reinforce the Watershed Management Unit in order to plan watershed management in priority areas of Honduras
- In the Sierra de Omoa: consolidate the technical and institutional basis for permanent watershed management in the Omoa watershed in accordance with plans drawn up by the initial project (1976-1978)
- In the Lake Yojoa basin: launch integrated management of the Yojoa watershed in accordance with techniques tested in the Sierra de Omoa
- In the Agúan basin: collaborate with the Agúan Valley regional planning project to draw up maps and plans for management of the Agúan basin
- Train national staff on the job (above activities) and through specific study programmes.
Thus expressed, the objectives say little, as they leave out the work with mountain watershed communities. Accordingly, another explicit objective was added, which was indeed achieved:
- Direct involvement of the community in conservation and land rehabilitation by motivating people to become aware of the direct and indirect benefits of the conservation and rehabilitation measures.
A first scope of the project focused on the Sierra de Omoa, working with individual communities. Beginning in 1978 the focus shifted to integrated watershed management, continuing the work with individual communities but within a larger and integrated context. The scope of the project was regional; however, reinforcement of the COHDEFOR Watershed Management Unit had nation-wide ramifications.
The following description refers primarily to work with communities, the specific topic of this Guide.
Project activities consisted of:
- Promotion: consisted of reporting to the people in the project area about the consequences of poor land use and the new possibilities held forth by the project. The people leading the promotion campaign managed to interest peasant individuals and groups in forming housewives' associations, cooperatives and other kinds of associations
- Design and execution of conservation works: conservation experts designed and oversaw the construction of three major types of works: bench terraces, hillside ditches and orchard terraces, a technique which made it possible to bring land with slope gradients of up to 60 degrees under cultivation
- Agricultural extension: the introduction of new techniques and the substitution of traditional crops by more intensive permanent crops such as fruit trees, coffee and forest plantations to improve the use of protected land
- Reforestation: on land with slope gradients of over 60 percent deforested areas were scheduled to be covered with fast-growing species for conservation, energy and recreational purposes
- Protection of the forest, not so much against forest fires as to prevent the incorporation of new forest areas for agriculture, particularly through a campaign of talks and awareness-building among the peasants.
In its initial stages the project lacked specific goals and set planning because these were to follow from the promotion campaign and experience gained from the work referred to in the previous paragraph. Targets were set in early 1979 which varied in accordance with the assumed yield of technical staff and community involvement in the project.
The assumed yield targets adopted were 180 ha/yr conservation works and 250 ha/yr reforestation.
The project achieved a total of:
- 361 ha were treated with conservation works
- 467 ha of forest plantations on 166 plots
- Participation of 1 834 peasants in the project work
- Participation off 78 communities
- Several thousand people (2 000 in 1980 alone) attended talks on forest protection.
The area treated with soil conservation works was on target: the area reforested somewhat short of the target, but in any case between 1976 and 1978, fifteen percent of the target area had been treated with soil conservation works and twenty-four percent of the target area reforested, whereas by 1979 and 1980, 5.4 times as much area had been treated with soil conservation works and 3.2 times as much area reforested.
The targets achieved are not spectacular, but the project was basically a regional and local trial experience which could subsequently be expanded to other areas.
- Project promotion among communities and peasants
- Technical assistance in terrace construction, first by Government personnel and later with the incorporation of field soil conservation experts from the same community
- Lease of tools to carry out the conservation works, the peasants being too poor to purchase tools
- Distribution of fruit trees and agricultural inputs to allow peasants to grow permanent crops, improved crops and diversified crops. These inputs were seeds, fertilizers, plastic bags and pesticides
- Economic remuneration of field staff based on output, i.e., extent to which targets were met
- Agricultural extension, initially to individual farmers and later on to demonstration plots by groups of peasants in order to make the work more effective
- Supply of construction materials for small irrigation works.
The project operated under an agreement between COHDEFOR, FAO and UNDP.
UNDP provided US$ 700 000 to fund the project. FAO and other agencies supplied international staff to support COHDEFOR, train personnel and, initially, to provide direct technical assistance.
COHAAT provided food--for-work, donated by the German Government, to provide incentives for the construction of terraces and other soil conservation work, reforestation, and support of technical assistance and agricultural extension field days such as community study trips, inter-community meetings to exchange experiences, etc.
Food was initially distributed as daily rations per working day, but in view of the high cost of food per hectare treated, incentives came to be pegged to area treated, i.e. standard yields.
Food was also distributed to peasants during the first agricultural season as compensation for the time spent on construction of conservation works.
The peasants worked as individuals and as Housewives' Associations and other informal peasant associations exchanging their work for food rations on their own land and on land they did not own.
Community participation was quite effective, indeed when the system of pegging food rations to area treated replaced the food rations per day worked there was no negative reaction or loss of enthusiasm. In some communities the best response came from women's groups.
- The soil conservation works and agricultural extension were major achievements in terms of demonstrating to peasants that shifting cultivation practices can be exchanged for sedentary agriculture with all the ensuing advantages from the point of view of community development
- A stable, functional approach to the problem of soil rehabilitation and watershed management following a system of social motivation/ technical assistance/construction of conservation works/reforestation - a modular system potentially applicable to other watersheds in the country
- Financially, the crops, reforestation for fuelwood and fruit trees were quite productive, constituting a potentially solid basis for the progress of peasant families. The results were much better than those of traditional agriculture.
Many of the major constraints encountered were later overcome in the course of the project; nonetheless they deserve to be mentioned:
- Initially food-for-work was distributed per working day, which made the construction of terraces and other soil conservation works enormously expensive
- The administration of the project was centralized, which slowed and hampered the work of promoters and technical assistance in the field because of the excessive travel time involved
- In its initial phase, the project had no fixed targets as the potential yields of promoters in the field, technical assistance work and the construction of soil conservation works and establishment of crops were all unknown at that time.
Nonetheless, the project did a follow-up and statistical check on the cost/benefit
ratio of the work, and as a result pegged the distribution of incentives to area treated
and not to time expended in work. Promotion and technical assistance was decentralized and
small vehicles distributed to the promoters and field technical staff for greater
autonomy. Concrete targets
were also set for personnel, which considerably boosted productivity during the course of
the project.
The Honduras project permitted the establishment of an efficient integrated watershed management system, applicable countrywide, and of fundamental potential importance to economic development plans. Honduras is a rural country. It is vital to stabilize the peasant population by upland farming which can provide permanent and sustained yields. This kind of agriculture as well as silviculture on steeply sloping land can produce great financial yields. Added to the foregoing is the fact that the investment required to provide work for one peasant under this project scheme is some 2 to 7.5 times less than would be required in any other sector of the economy.
