Niger: the example of Tafouka

The “Fisheries enhancement in Tafouka small water bodies” project, which was set up as part of the Sustainable Fisheries Livelihoods Programme (SFLP), is on the right path. After three years, it has produced some impressive results and the priority now is to help communities progress further in their efforts. It is also time to encourage the establishment of links with other development agencies and to inform decision makers of the impact of the project, so that the experience can be made use of in national rural development policy.

Tafouka is in Birni Nkoni district, 400 km east of Niamey and 12 km -from the border with Nigeria. As in many other villages in the Sahel, the Sahara is eating up land every day, covering up the vegetation. Year after year, the sand threatens to dry out the ponds around Tafouka, menacing their biotic environment and exacerbating the vulnerability to poverty of these fisheries communities. The causes of this are no secret. They were identified by a participatory appraisal conducted within the Tafouka communities in 2000. They include climatic problems, of course, such as drought, desertification and soil erosion, but there is also human intervention, as the villagers now recognise. The human factors range from land degradation and the destruction of woodland, to the low level of organisation and training and poor access to credit. And all these factors have their effect on soil and pond productivity.

The appraisal was used to draw up a community action plan from which a community project was formulated. It aims at sustainably improve the livelihoods of the fisheries communities by strengthening their technical, organisational and institutional capacities. It is a two-part project, with support for improving fisheries productivity in the water body, and support for valorising the catches (processing and marketing).

Two components

The project was intended to attenuate both the causes and the effects of the drying out of the Tafouka water bodies, through action to protect the watershed and protective measures against rain and wind erosion, such as half-moons and filter ditches, bringing direct benefit to the communities. It also provided for a 50,000-plant nursery, to produce thousands of plants for the anti-erosion structures. The nursery produces gum trees, for gum arabica, and baobab and tamarind for their fruits. These products are all opportunities for the communities to diversify and increase their income.

There was also the matter of signing agreements with herders on the use of pasture corridors leading to ponds and of constructing water points at a distance from them. These measures were intended to reduce the silting up of the ponds owing to their use as watering points for the herds.

The second part of the project, support for valorising the catches, was primarily intended to improve fish processing and storage techniques in Tafouka. It was also hoped that it would encourage local people to eat fish – they generally considered fish only as an income-earner to be sold on the markets of Nigeria. Ten “simplified Altona” ovens were to be built with the help of a rolling fund which was also part of the programme, along with training for the beneficiaries in fish storage and processing techniques and in simple management and accounting.

Since the ponds dry out completely during the dry season, and the fish disappear, six fingerling storage tanks were to be built in the village. The tanks were to be used to store the fingerlings and then to re-stock the ponds once the rains returned.

Two years later

Two years after the project was set up, the new production and management techniques have proved their worth. Together with appropriate technical training, they have significantly helped to increase the knowledge and know-how of the whole community. The most perceptible impact of this has been community work – the construction of anti-erosion structures, for example - carried out according to schedule. This is to the credit of the community project, which has managed to strengthen social cohesion and the determination of the ponds users to work together.

The project’s achievements have not only helped to control silting in the large pond, but also and particularly to improve fish stocks and to create new economic activities. The introduction of the “Altona” oven, for example, led to a significant improvement in the quality of smoked fish – and its conservation – which brought a 33% increase in sales prices. The construction of concrete tanks helped to double the original fingerling storage capacity and the anti-erosion work proved its importance in reducing erosion by holding back sand and soil, and afforestation.

This first assessment offers good prospects for the diversification of the livelihoods of the communities of Tafouka. There are other opportunities which have not yet been fully exploited, such as the sale of fresh fish, made possible since the fish storage capacity has doubled. Direct sales of plants have brought the village over CFA 1 million within one year. And that is without counting the by-products (leaves, fruits, gum arabica) that are used directly by the local people in their diet or in cattle feed, or sold on the market.

The local people’s participation in and commitment to these development activities have also helped build the basis for co-management of the lakes’ resources. Tafouka is now seen as a place to visit and study by other fishers and fishmongers from all over the country and elsewhere. Some fisheries communities from Burkina Faso have been on an exchange visit to Tafouka. This demonstrates the success of the project which, together with the beneficiary communities, has been proposed for the Margarita Lizarraga Medal Award for distinction in the application of the principles of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.

Information, education, communication

Boosted by this success, the community now has a new project on public awareness and communication. The main objective of the National Coordination Unit (NCU) in this is to reinforce the Tafouka communities’ awareness of the importance of continuing to build protective structures. It would not be honest to say that the project has no shortcomings.

The field trips by NCU members identified a number of problems, mainly related to maintaining the plants around the ponds. However, there is also the general context of land conflicts between herders and farmers regarding use of the pond. A first solution was proposed: that other water points be constructed and used for the cattle. However, this would have involved payment, a fact the herders did not like. A public awareness and information campaign, encouraging consultation and participation of all the communities in analysing the situation and taking the decisions, is now needed. It will allow the communities to seek and initiate solutions to these problems.

The new project also covers other communication activities. The advantages brought by the Altona ovens could usefully be extended to other fisheries communities. Through this smoking process, it is also the advantages of a simple community savings and credit system - needed to fund the ovens - which will be highlighted. The aim is to raise the communities’ awareness to the advantages of such system, particularly in developing their main economic activities. These activities will be led by Kokari, an NGO intervening in the area. It will adapt its experience in savings and credit schemes to the context and needs of the fisheries communities. This will provide it with a better understanding of the fishers’ expectations and concerns, a knowledge which will be useful to the NGO in its future work with other communities in the country. Management of access to and protection of the ponds is another vital aspect to be developed in order to avoiding conflicts over land and the silting up of the lakes.

Several different types of activity have been planned: a guide is to be produced to show how users can organise themselves to implement protection activities and to hold public meetings for the management of the pond. Interactive radio programmes using role plays to show what the communities are doing will highlight the use of ovens, the credit system, etc. Technical brochures and posters on the advantages of Altona ovens will also be produced. Later on, it is also planned to produce a video to explain the techniques clearly.

All these activities are at the pilot stage. The project’s achievements and lessons learned will be used in the future to develop ten other ponds in the region (under the Tahouna programme). Initially at least, since the know-how built up in Tafouka can be used by many other communities in the country. The project also has a broader objective, to encourage policy makers to make use of the project’s results and lessons learned in national rural development policy. This means that the project may in fact be a starting point for political, institutional and legal reforms which are so necessary for the socio-economic development of the Niger’s fisheries communities.

The importance of local development

Strengthening the assets and skills of fisheries communities, making use of experience wherever possible. The communication project also has a third objective, which is to inform policy makers and development partners about the Tafouka experience. Often regional and sub-regional authorities do not pay enough attention to grass-roots projects. Through this project, the NCU is hoping to highlight the issues and context of vulnerability in which the communities live. There are two objectives in this: firstly to encourage the authorities to take a greater interest in local development within a holistic context and to give them a better understanding of the role played by fisheries in rural poverty reduction. The second objective is to mobilise the development partners around the communities’ other concerns, such as health and education. In doing this, the communication project is implementing one of the recommendations of the national poverty alleviation workshop.