16 Aug 2017 STDM application in rural and agricultural contexts
STDM’s capability to improve tenure security through active involvement of landholders from the consensus building stage to data gathering and overall management of land tenure information to address land tenure issues; the creation of a platform where issues such as tenant farmer rights’ can be discussed has enhanced its application in rural and agricultural contexts in Eastern and Southern African countries (ESA).
In Kenya, the STDM and participatory enumerations have been implemented to geo-spatially enumerate rice out growers in Kirinyaga County at the Mwea Irrigation Scheme (MIS) at the Ndekia outgrower blocks with the aim of including these farmers in the scheme’s register for ease of management on irrigation water services, agricultural extension and other services. GLTN supported geo-spatial enumeration in Ndekia III and the National Irrigation Board and MIS later scaled up to map Ndekia II out grower block. The complete STDM geo-referenced database for Ndekia III has improved irrigation irrigation water distribution efficiency by establishing the exact plot sizes of the paddies.
Also within this County, the IFAD supported Upper Tana Natural Resources Management Project (UTaNRMP), has utilized STDM to strengthen the monitoring and evaluation system for the project.
In Bomet County, STDM has been used to support geo-spatial enumeration of smallholder dairy producers and the mapping of key communal natural resource, (grazing lands, salt licks points, water points, and cattle dips among others). The resultant data is being utilized to inform sustainable resource management of dairy production in the different farms in the IFAD supported Small Holder Dairy Commercialization Project (SDCP). It will also help secure boundaries of communal resources from encroachment and determine optimal animal carrying capacity of the grazing and drinking areas to prevent resource over-exploitation and degradation.
These accomplishments have been registered under the Land and Natural Resources Tenure Security Learning Initiative for East and Southern Africa (TSLI-ESA) Initiative, a collaboration of the GLTN and IFAD aimed at integrating pro-poor and gender sensitive tools and approaches to strengthen land and natural resource tenure rights system in IFAD supported agricultural investment projects and programmes in Eastern and Southern African countries. We shall be posting more accounts on STDM application in other countries in ESA.
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