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PATECORE

    

Together with the farmers, the sponsoring association Terra-Verde e.V. would like to continue the PATECORE activities. So here a short presentation of the project:

PATECORE was planned as a pilot project within the German Sahel program and was started in 1988 as a bilateral German-Burkinian project.

Many previous projects failed in their effort to combat erosion, because their approach was technocratic and the farmers were not adequately included in the planning and implementation phase.

PATECORE has successfully started a project with a different approach: 

• Based on their traditional knowledge the farmers were placed in the center of the activities,

• maximum of personal participation when building stone walls

• adapted techniques (handicraft instead of machines)

 

Project sponsor for the whole period (1988 - 2006) was the Ministry of Agriculture. The Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung(BMZ)) has authorized the following three organizations with the implementation of the German contribution: 

• Society for Technical Cooperation (GTZ GmbH - Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit)

• Development Bank (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and

• German Development Service (Deutsche Entwicklungsdienst (DED)

 

  

PATECORE = Projet d’Aménagement des Terroirs et de Conservation des Ressources  dans le Plateau Central

(Conservation and land development project of the Central Plateau)

Mutual learning is the key to success

PATECORE: a hallmark of the German Development Cooperation

Results and effects
Nearly all the farmers that are PATECORE partners (ca. 20.000) protect their fields sustainably from erosion and continuously improve soil fertility by means of complementary measures such as the use of fertilizers (compost), improved fallow periods and a rotation of the different crops.

This was achieved by:

• Mobilizing and training about 800 farmer groups in more than 400 villages;

• Special training of 2.000 farmers as advisors for the villages with regard to building contour stone walls and the integration of cattle farming for getting manure and compost;

• Use of rented trucks for transporting about 3,5  million tons of stones;

• Contour stone walls are built from these stones (total length about 40.000 km). About 70.000 ha of farmland are thus protected from soil erosion.

 

Reforestation and land use plans
In addition to building contour stone walls PATECORE also offered services in the sectors reforestation and land use. For various reasons these projects could not be introduced on a large scale. But in the course of decentralization, the currents projects can profit from PATECORE’s previous achievements, especially the introduction of communal land use plans.

  

DBuilding contour stone walls in large areas has changed whole landscapes in the course of time

Changes of land use were observed by means of remote sensing.

25 years ago a semi-desert and today a habitat with a good prospective for the future 

Simple measures, big effects
The extensive construction of contour stone walls has triggered a developmental process with various effects that have been adequately documented (see documents and links as well as more than 700 entries in the internet found under the search word PATECORE).

About  400.000 inhabitants of rural areas on the northern Central Plateau (target groups/beneficiaries) profit from the following effects:

• Increase of food production between  25% to 75% (depending on the initial situation and soil degradation);

• What is not consumed directly by the farmers can be sold and the money then used for other social services (health, education);

• Increase of land productivity (yield per ha) and thus less expansion of farmland. This means a protection of still relatively intact bush savannas;

• Agricultural revolution was triggered and accelerated (integration of cattle farming and tillage);

• Increase of agricultural carrying capacity (more people can live in the region without having to cause over-exploitation);

• The results are fewer environmental refugees and therefore less conflicts (ecological, political and social) in the emigration regions.


All in all the materialistic conditions for the people were improved and the activity range of the farmers increased.

PATECORE was very profitable: Increase of the natural capital, the soil, by 140 mio. EUR

After subtracting the development costs of the first few years and calculating the profitability exclusively for the construction of contour stone walls, the annual financial statement is very positive. 

• Seen from the economical point of view the investments will have been ameliorated within four years;

• With external knock-on financing of about 150 EUR per ha (costs for the transportation of stones and advisory services) together with the work of the farmers, this results in a surplus value of the soil amounting to 2.000 per ha (corresponds to an annual yield of Ø 400 kg millet à 0,25 EUR, capitalized with 5%);

• For the total areas of 70.000 ha surrounded by contour stone walls this amounts to 140 million EUR (the required external knock-on financing amounts to 10 mio. EUR)


Investments in soil conservation measures are economically very good investments that can hardly be topped.

Stop of PATECORE
With the final stop of PATECORE without a successor organization ten thousands of farmers loose a partner that supported them in building contour stone walls in large areas. The farmers are still willing and highly motivated to prevent their useable agricultural areas sustainably from eroding and to increase soil fertility by means of manure and compost. They are, however, not in the position to pay for the transportation of the stones. 

The work is not terminated
In order to prevent the useable agricultural areas on the Central Plateau sustainably from erosion, 500.000 ha of fields must be surrounded by contour stone walls. A period of 20 years should not be exceeded. That is why three female farmers and six male farmers have decided to take all the necessary steps for being able to continue the work together with 20.000 other affected farmers. In addition to founding a successor organization of PATECORE they are now also looking for partners that are prepared so support them in the continuation of a unique success story.


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