CURRENT PROJECT: Enhance Sustainable Grazing and Wetland Management: Empower Communities
The Project evolving at the Njeremoto Biodiversity Institute is demonstrating the Indigenous Shona Knowledge and Practices, complemeted by current western based ideas and technology for Sustainable Grazing and Land Management.
In the Shona culture, the land evolved with herding animals. Hence the absence of one results in the destruction of the other. The conventional grazing management belief that too many animals cause overgrazing is a misconception of the semi-arid savanna environments of Southern Africa where these environments evolved with thousands of herding grazers such as wildebeests and buffalo together with their predators (lions, leopards, cheetah, hyenas, e.t.c). The Shona believe that overgrazing is caused by inadequate recovery period for grazed plants. Further, they believe that in conventional western grazing management practice overgrazing is a result of domesticated animals overstaying on the same piece of land (continuous grazing) or returning too soon to the grazed area (rapid rotational grazing systems).
This project has been refined during the Ashoka Induction phase of Sept 2002 to August 2005. In the current phase of the strategic plan (2010 to 2015 - five (5) years), the following practices and programmes are undertaken/embarked on:
a) Demonstrate and train in time controlled grazing,
b) Demonstrate and train in sustainable wetland utilization & management,
c) Demonstrate ecological and cultural tourism,
d) Enhance and train sustainable child nutrition and health
e) Deserminate Holistic,Perm culture and Organic farming Principles
f) Institute agro-processing and value adding of farm produces.
This project is exploring and evolving new technology for semi-arid rangelands management as well as empowering and capacitating humans with skills and tools to sustainably manage the ecosystem while ensuring sustainable livelihoods for the present and future generations. The project also helps to further the development of Njeremoto institute’s capabilities. Institute focus Areas:
1) Time controlled grazing, overgrazing, rest and animal impact in brittle environments: Tropical savannahs function, when compared with research efforts directed in fields such as tropical rain-forest or studies on desert environments.
2) Sustainable wetland utilization and management
3) Ecological and cultural tourism
4) Agro-processing and value adding
5) Sustainable Child Nutrition and Health
