University of Groningen Poverty and natural resource management in the Central Highlands of Eritrea Araya Tesfamicael, Bereket IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 2005 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Araya Tesfamicael, B. (2005). Poverty and natural resource management in the Central Highlands of Eritrea. s.n. Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). The publication may also be distributed here under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license. More information can be found on the University of Groningen website: https://www.rug.nl/library/open-access/self-archiving-pure/taverne- amendment. Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum. Download date: 29-09-2021 Rijks universiteit Groningen Poverty and Natural Resource Management in the Central Highlands of Eritrea Proefschrift ter verkrijging van het doctoraat in de Economische Wetenschappen aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen op gezag van de Rector Magnificus, dr. F. Zwarts, in het openbaar te verdedigen op maandag 28 november 2005 om 14.45 uur door Bereket Araya Tesfamicael geboren op 1 januari 1968 te Asmara (Eritrea) Promotores: Prof. Dr. Ir. C. Schweigman Prof. Dr. A.J. M. Schoot Uiterkamp Prof. Dr. B.W. Lensink Co-promotor: Dr. S. Nonhebel Beoordelingscommissie : Prof.dr. J. B. Opschoor Prof.dr. C.J. Jepma Prof.dr. J. van Andel Acknowledgements I owe much gratitude to many people for their help and friendship during my stay in the Netherlands. A great number of people have contributed to this book in one way or another, and I would like to take the opportunity to mention several of them. First, however, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the Netherlands’ Universities Foundation for International Co-operation (NUFFIC) for financing my research. I gratefully acknowledge also the College of Business and Economics, University of Asmara for giving me a study leave to pursue my Ph.D. research. I am greatly indebted to my Promotors Prof. Caspar Schweigman, Prof. Ton Schoot Uiterkamp, Prof Robert Lensink and Dr. Sanderine Nonhebel for their continuous support and encouragement. Their professional advice and constructive suggestions were essential for this thesis. Especially, I would like to thank Caspar for his great interest in this study and his close guidance throughout the years of my study. Without his support, this study would not have come to completion. His enthusiasm and friendliness were also constant sources of encouragement. I would like to gratefully acknowledge Dr. Huib Hengsdijk of Plant Research International, Wageneingen University, for allowing me to use his TCG software and for spending considerable time in generating relevant data using parameters representing the conditions in the Central Highlands of Eritrea. I also thank Dr. Ruerd Ruben and Dr. Kees Praagman for their comments on the statistical analysis of the data. Special thanks as well to Yoeri Zwols for his assistance with the GAMS software. Many people have helped me during my fieldwork in Eritrea. I would like to specially mention Dr Woldesellasie Ogbazghi, head of the Department of Land Resource and Environment at the University of Asmara and his senior undergraduate students, as well as Mr. Dawit Ghiorgis, head of Planning Department in the Ministry of Agriculture. I also want to thank Mr. Senai Woldeab, Mr. Abraham Gebrekirstos and my brothers, Tsegai, Fessehazion and Habtom for their help with data collection. The CDS staff, Mr. Arthur de Boer, Mr. Hans Paul Klijnsma and Dr. Pieter Boele van Hensbroek deserve my gratitude for the lively environment they created for me both at the office and outside. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Dr. Clemens Lutz and to members of the Office for International Relations, Madeleine, Eric, Marieke and Anita. I would like also to thank all my friends who made my study life in the Netherlands easy and enjoyable. Special thanks to my friends Maarten van Ommen, Asmerom Atewebrhan, Bereket Mehari and Fitsum Ghebregiorgis. I am forever indebted to my father Araya Tesfamicael and my mother Abrehet Ghebrewold for being the wonderful loving and caring parents that they are and for making sure that I continued my study even at the most difficult times. Last, but certainly not least, my heartfelt thanks to my wife, Tigisti Msghna and my children Yafet and Batseba. Tigisti has always been of great moral support and happily took the burden of family responsibility so that I could concentrate on my study. “Ebenezer … thus far has the Lord helped us ” (1 samuel 7:12). I am grateful to God for helping me to see a successful conclusion of this long journey. Bereket Araya ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements i List of Tables ix List of Figures xiii List of Abbreviations xv Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Background of the study 1 1.2 Statement of the problem 2 1.3 Objectives of the study 4 1.4 Methodology of the study 4 1.5 Organization of the study 6 Chapter 2 Agricultural Intensification, Agricultural Productivity and Land Degradation in Africa 9 2.1 Introduction 9 2.2 Performance of agriculture in Africa 10 2.3 Land degradation 12 2.4 Agricultural intensification 14 2.5 Understanding farmers’ decisions for agricultural intensification 17 2.5.1 Poverty and land degradation 18 2.5.2 Land tenure and land degradation 19 Chapter 3 Agriculture , Energy and Land Degradation in Eritrea 23 3.1 Introduction 23 3.2 The state of Eritrean agriculture 23 3.2.1 Land size and land use 23 3.2.2 Crop production 25 3.2.3 Livestock 30 3.3 Energy and forestry in Eritrea 31 3.3.1 Energy 32 3.3.2 Forests and woodlands 33 3.4 Land degradation 37 3.5 The causes of land degradation in Eritrea 39 3.5.1 Direct causes of land degradation 39 3.5.2 Indirect causes of land degradation 43 3.6 Summary 49 Chapter 4 Model Structure and Approach 51 4.1 Introduction 51 4.2 Theoretical foundations of farm household modelling 51 4.3 Bio-economic modelling approaches 53 4.3.1 Classification of bio-economic models 53 4.4 The structure and major components of the BEM of the farming 55 system in the Highlands of Eritrea 55 4.4.1 Structure of the bio-economic model 56 4.4.2 Interactions between various components of the model 57 4.4.3 Socio-economic components of the bio-economic model 59 4.4.4 Biophysical components of the bio-economic model 61 4.5 Conclusions 62 Chapter 5 The Field Research 65 5.1 Introduction 65 5.2 Methodology of the field research 65 5.2.1 General farm household survey 66 5.2.2 In-depth farm household survey 67 5.2.3 Field measurements 67 5.3 The research area and the research villages 68 5.3.1 The Central Highlands of Eritrea 68 5.3.2 The research villages 70 5.4 Household resources 74 5.4.1 Labour 74 5.4.2 Land 76 5.5 Crop production 78 5.5.1 Crop yield 79 5.5.2 Labour and oxen requirement 81 5.5.3 Land management practices 83 5.6 Livestock 87 5.7 Tree planting 90 5.8 Summary 91 Chapter 6 Bio -economic Model of the Farming Systems in the Highlands of Eritrea 93 6.1 Introduction 93 6.2 Mathematical modelling of the farming systems 93 6.3 The planning year and the planning period 94 6.4 Land use decisions and land constraints 95 6.4.1 Tree growth and the land constraints 99 6.5 Crop production and consumption modelling 102 6.5.1 Crop residues 103 6.5.2 Consumption, buying and selling of crops 105 iv 6.6 Wood and grass production 106 6.6.1 Grass production 108 6.7 Livestock modelling 109 6.7.1 Feed availability and livestock 110 6.7.2 Animal power requirement and livestock 111 6.7.3 Milk production 113 6.7.4 Manure production and use 113 6.8 Fertilizer balance 114 6.9 Energy modelling 116 6.10 Population and labour 116 6.11 Cash constraint 119 6.12 Land management, crop yield, soil and nutrient loss 122 6.13 Objective function 123 Chapter 7 Estimating Model Parameters 125 7.1 Introduction 125 7.2 Land 125 7.3 Labour supply and requirement 126 7.3.1 Labour supply 126 7.3.2 Labour requirements 128 7.4 Crop yields and agricultural technologies 130 7.4.1 The Technical Coefficient Generator 131 7.4.2 A statistical analysis of results from TCG 134 7.5 Sustainability indicators 135 7.5.1 Soil erosion 135 7.5.2 Nitrogen balance 138 7.6 Inputs and outputs of livestock activities 141 7.7 Grass and wood production 143 7.7.1 Grass production 143 7.7.2 Wood production 144 7.8 Food and fuel requirements 145 7.8.1 Food requirement and consumption patterns 145 7.8.2 Fuel: level and composition 146 7.9 Some empirical evidences 147 7.9.1 Fertilizer and crop yield 147 7.9.2 Estimation of soil loss and run-off 149 7.9.3 Soil conservation and crop yield 155 7.10 Prices 158 7.11 Conclusions 159 v Chapter 8 Base Run and Sensitivity Analysis 161 8.1 Introduction 161 8.2 Results of the base model 161 8.2.1 Land use 163 8.2.2 Soil conservation 169 8.2.3 Organic and inorganic fertilizers 170 8.3 Livestock 171 8.4 Soil erosion and nitrogen balance 173 8.4.1 Soil erosion 173 8.4.2 Nitrogen loss 174 8.5 Income 175 8.6 Sensitivity analysis for some parameters 176 8.7 Household-level model 177 8.7.1 Results of the household model 179 8.8 Conclusions 182 Chapter 9 Discussion of Model Results: Scenario Analysis 183 9.1 Introduction 183 9.2 Scenario 1.