Green Water Credits Report: Local Innovation and Participatory Extension Developing and spreading Sustainable Land Management Practices in the Maghreb: adding value to the Green Water Credit Methodology? (Draft)

This paper examines the potential for making use of local innovation and novel extension arrangements for the spread of soil and water conservation/ sustainable land management technologies linked to the ‘Green Water Credit’ (GWC) concept (see Figure One). Though the principles of the approaches are relevant to various countries in Africa and elsewhere, this study looks especially at the situation and potential in the Maghreb given the current exploratory project1 being undertaken in Algeria. The starting point for the Green Water Credit studies so far carried out, has been to base calculations and scenarios on ‘best practice’ technologies already under use in the areas under study – or to delve into the WOCAT database (www.wocat.net) to identify alternative measures.
With respect to extension systems – and the means of spreading these technologies with associated good practices - GWC has, by default, assumed that a combination of the existing national extension services and market forces would ensure rapid uptake. In this paper, the potential for land users to develop their own technologies, and methods of exchanging knowledge is examined. While the exploratory GWC studies are justified in basing their calculation and assumptions on well-known technologies and convention practices of ‘transfer of technology’ (ToT), when such mechanisms are established in the field, there is an argument to say that more suitable technologies can be developed, and better uptake mechanisms introduced by encouraging farmer innovation and farmer-to-farmer learning. That is the premise of this paper.