Survey Period: - Monday 6, June 2016 to Wednesday 15, June 2016

Place of the Survey:- Mile Woreda, Arsis Keble in Afar Regional State of Ethiopia.

Participant in the Survey: - Tages Abo from Welyita Unoversity and Yared Getaneh from SANRM as principal surveyors for IoG. Four extension workers from Mile Woreda agricultural offices have participated in the face-to-face interview. All graduated from Agricultural Vocational College (ATVET).

Methodology/Approach

Face to face interview with 108 households has conducted. Random selection was used during the selection of the household for interview. Two focus group discussions (FGD) with 13 community participants composited of clan leaders, elders, women and youth were conducted. Informal interviews and discussions with individuals from the new settlings and experts in Arsis and mile Woreda and field observation and transect walk were conducted. 

Key informant interviews and field observation

According to Arsis Kebele administration head, there is 9338 human population settled in four sub villages in Arsis Kebele. In the central sub village, where our project is going to implement, it has around 3000 residences. According to the residence, the four sub villages are separated with significant walking distance among them. There are five major clans and many sub-clans under the main branches. The major clans and their local names are:- Aysa, Myabe, Arbdi and Gosali. 

The team could not get the information about the number of livestocks in Arsis and the Woreda. According to the experts, due to the current drought in the area, a lot of livestock has died.

1.What are the indicators of wealth status in the community?

There are two basic indicators, housing and livestock’s ownerships. There are three categories of wealth status description in the community.

-Poor (Aydude): Only 10 goats, one houses & one wife

-Middle (Tugodyta): 10-15camel, 50 goat, 10 cattle, two houses & two wives

-Better off (locally called Gedli): 50 camels, 200 goats, 50 cattle, four houses & four wives 

2.What is the necessary condition for agricultural production and plantation? 

Almost all the strongly they mentioned water is the primary precondition for agricultural production in the area. The second precondition is training on agricultural production and irrigation methods. The third is availability of planting materials and seeds of crops and vegetables adaptable for the local environmental condition.

3.What are the main challenge and threats in Arsis? 

Natural threats they mentioned is strong wind (tornado) just before and at the beginning of winter season/ rainy season. The speed of the wind is very strong; it uproots trees, devastates houses, destroys plants and erodes the soil. The second natural threat is the occasional and periodic invasion of insects/swarms of caterpillars. Starting from May, these insects are invading the area and are destroying every green plants in the area. The catastrophe occurs around every ten to fifteen years.

Human treats are drought, migration, and lack of facilities, infrastructures and institutional supports. The participants mentioned that there are no continuous extension services, demonstration sites and training opportunities on agricultural production; there is no organized market place to sell their cattle. They are forced to drive and sell their cattle to big cities like Jiuti, Logya, Senera, Dufti and Mile. During drought time, the community migrates for searching of water and pastures land and also migrates to cities to work as laborer. 

Financial threat are shortage of seed money to start agriculture, absence of loan and credit from financial institutions. They mentioned that there is only one initiative program by government called PCDP, which provided five thousands birr loan for selected and organized women. The initiatives organized women once and provided a certain amount of money for the selected women, and then disappeared. 

4.What are major income Generating activities in Arsis? 

The participants mentioned that one hundred percent of the community livelihood depends on selling their cattle. Usually they sell their cattle and purchase household commodities from the market. During good seasons, first they sell their goats and cattle, but during hard time/ drought they sell their camels. The Camel is drought tolerant, so they keep it for hard times. The second income possibility is to sell firewood or to work as laborer in the nearby town or for mega projects like roads and other construction. 

5.What are the water sources and rainy seasons?  

Hand pumped ground water is the only water source in the area. Recently the new house construction and settlement for business in Arsis put pressure to the existing single water sources and lead to increase the prices of water, thus now a day one Jerican (20litter) of water sold around 6 ETB (0.3USD). There is no any water harvesting practice in Arsis kebele.  During the transect walk and the observation of the surrounding area, the team observed that there are more than 50 new households for business which are under construction. On the way to Mile, around 200 km away from the city toward Addis Ababa, we observed temporary water harvesting practices as digging the ground and covering with polyethylene plastic sheets to hold the water. 

6.Do you have any modern training of agricultural practices, postharvest management soil and water Conservation? 

The participant mentioned that they do not have any modern training on agricultural practices. They have exposure and experiences in soil and water conservation activities by SANRM and CCD (local NGOs). Only one of the participants has exposure in post harvest management while he was working as laborer in Dufty town, which is around 40 km away from Arsis in northeast direction. During the discussion, the participant underline that they need modern agriculture practices training. 

7.Is there any postharvest management practice in the area and what are the challenges, they have encountered so far?  

They do not have any post harvest management experiences in the community. They do not preserve their crops, rather they consume quickly use for domestic consumption. 

8.Do you have any compost making practices and using experience?  

They said, that they do not have any experience. However, they mentioned that using animal dung is not rule out by religion or local customs. 

9.What are the copping strategies?  

The first copping strategy is cutting and carring leaves of many trees in the surrounding for feeding of the animals. The second is moving / migrating to the surrounding villages and zones. The third strategy is the male will move to the surrounding area for labor work, the female will stay with the cattle. The male do not move far from the area, he move where he can control or his family.

10.What are potential crops and plants familiar with environment and economically important in Arisis community?  

The prime choices of the community are, maize and sorghum. From perennial plants, the community chose leguminous plants and grasses for animal feeding. They also showed interest in Vegetables like tomato, onion and carrots.  They mentioned that they have experience in growing maize and sorghum. They believed that the environmental condition of Arsis is highly favorable to grow maize and sorghum. They have experiences in growing leguminous plants and grasses by SANRM and they have seen vegetables such as tomato and onions have successfully growing in the surrounding kebeles such as Dufti and Mile.