Presented at the CAPRi International Workshop on Collective Action, Property Rights, and Conflict in Natural Resources Management. June 28th to July 1st, 2010, Siem Reap, Cambodia. http://www.capri.cgiar.org/wks_0610.asp

1. How can collective action and customary laws help to manage
conflicts over natural resource commons in rural communities?
Case study of Zambia
Ajayi OC, Akinnifesi FK, Sileshi G, Ajayi AO, Mng’omba S
Ajayi@gmx.net
o.c.ajayi@cgiar.org
World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)
Southern African Regional Program, Lilongwe
Presented at the CAPRi Workshop
“Collective Action, Property Rights, and Conflict in Natural Resources Management”
28 June - 03 July 2010, Siem Reap, Cambodia

2. Outline of presentation
• Background
• Objectives
• Processes for the formulation of the bi-laws
• Implementation and effectiveness of bi-laws
• Impacts of the laws
• Lessons and conclusion

3. Challenges in southern Africa
• Challenges:
– decreasing per capital food due to low soil fertility
– conventional land use & soil fertility technologies not
affordable to smallholder farmers
– Encroach into marginal lands- agric & charcoal
– Annual deforestation in Southern Africa is high- 55,000 ha in
Malawi, 264,000 ha in Zambia (Geist, 1999).
• “Fertilizer tree systems” allow farmers to produce their
own N nutrients and reduce deforestation

4. What is known about N-fixing trees
 Technically feasible confirmed by several studies
 Increase crop yield and improves the environment
 but,…
 …property rights, customary practices on bush fires &
uncontrolled grazing constrain adoption and scaling up
 Non adopters cited:
 grazing problem (43%)
 risk of bush fires (29%)

5. Sesbania sesban
Normal field Burnt field

6. Gliricidia sepium
Normal field Burnt field

7. How were the bi-laws formulated?
• Farmers highlighted the constraints of fire & grazing in the regular
Consultative Forum on Agroforestry (CFA).
• Special sessions on approaches to involve the local communities
• Consensus: Traditional chiefs as custodian for conflict resolution, much
respected
• Two key powerful and influencial traditional authorities identified:
– matrilineal system led by paramount chief of the Chewas in Zambia/Malawi/Mozambique
– patrilineal system led by the paramount chief of the Angonis ethnic group.
• Promulgation of bi-law on fire and grazing

8. Farmers' assessment of the effectiveness of bylaws
FIRE Initial period Post bi-law
70 66
60
50
44
42
40
Percent
30
21
20
13 14
10
0
Effective Average "Not working"
General improvement in
effectiveness of the by-laws
Initial period Post bi-law
compared to the previous five 70
GRAZING
64
years 60
50 46
40
Greater rate of improvement for 34
Percent
30
grazing than fire 20 16
20 20
10
0
Effective Average "Not working"

9. Results
Farmers' awareness of the existence of the
bylaws
57 Fire
60
49 Grazing
50
37
40 34
Percent
30
17
20
10 6
0
Not aware it exists Aware but doesn’t Aware it exists and
at all know date the date

10. Implementation & effectiveness of bi-laws
 By-laws have succeeded in some (but not all) cases to
resolve the problems of fire outbreaks & browsing
 Implementation and effectiveness varies depending on:
 specific type of by-law (fire or grazing)
 type of cultural community (better in patrilineal than
matrilineal)
 level of agro-pastoral farming

11. Implementation and effectiveness of the laws
• Economic interest and power structure among different
sections of the community
 Economic interests of the powerful livestock owners and the
less powerful agroforestry farmers (can even afford
fertilizer)
 Power base and social status of the two groups
• Enforcement of the by-laws
 Fear to report wealthier livestock farmers to Chief
 … punishment  “taking revenge”  social relationship
 … emphasis on moral persuasion

12. Implementation and effectiveness of bi-laws (contd)
• Cost of monitoring compliance with the bi-law
 who pays this cost ?
 assigned to “everybody”  nobody
 Resources to back up bi-laws?
• Ambiguous interpretation of the bi-laws
 Extent of compensation for the aggrieved
 Clear compliance procedure
 House of Chiefs within Zambia political structure?

13. What are the effects of the by-laws on households &
communities?
• Identify “winners” and “losers” of enactment of by-
laws in communities & within households
• Sample of agroforestry and livestock farmers
 195 households in five agricultural districts (103
Agroforestry and 93 non- agroforestry households)
• Formal surveys
 Perception of the fairness of bi-laws by rural households
 Who is affected by the bi-laws and how?

14. Table 1: Composition of the households who assessed the impacts of the
by-laws
Number
Variable Description Percentage
(n=196)
Tree planting household 103 52
Tree planting
Non-tree planting household 93 48
Total 196 100
Female 107 55
Gender
Male 89 45
Total 196 100
Chewa (Matrilineal) 125 64
Ethnic group Agoni (Patrilineal) 61 31
Other ethnic groups 10 5
Total 196 100

15. Benefits of the by-laws in communities
• Intended benefits:
– Risk of fires and grazing now reduced
– Reduced conflict between agroforestry and livestock farmers
– Social equity-: pro women & pro poor households
• Unintended benefits
– Reduced theft of livestock
– Helped tobacco farmers
• Grasses readily available for making tobacco barns
• Prevent burning of tobacco curing sheds

16. Downsides of the bi-laws
• Bi-law on grazing:
Increases workload of animal care 39%
Economic/livelihood of livestock farmers 20%
Illiteracy among children 20%
Longer distance in search of fodder 19%
• Bi-law on fire:
Denial of relish 27%
Children are/feel restricted 23%
Parents suffer conflict of their children’s action 11%
More labour spent clearing land next season 10%

17. Table 2: Individuals who communities mentioned were mainly
affected by the bi-laws
Percentage of households who mention that the by-
laws negatively affected the individuals
Group of
individuals Tree planting Non- tree planting Overall*
households (n=103) households (n=93) (n=196)
Men 19 16 17
Women 6 2 4
Children (boys) 48 39 43
Mice hunters 25 26 25
Livestock owners 41 49 45
Other individuals 31 30 31

18. Key messages
• Existing traditional structure & institutions can serve as entry points for
policy intervention to manage social conflicts over common resources in
Zambia.
• Assess equity and fairness, but also pay attention to power structure
existing in the community
• Build consensus among different stakeholders affected by by-laws and
willingness to review them when & where necessary
• Enacting bi-laws help to reduce social conflict but, need to carefully
examine the impacts of their implementation:
– Who is affected, how, extent (quantify), etc?
– What is the cost, existing structure, ease/challenges of implementation, etc?

19. Conclusion
Good NRM technology = good adoption at community
level??? Not necessarily so. In addition to improving
technical characteristics of NRM interventions, the
prevailing property rights and nature of power structure are
important for their sustained and widespread up-scaling in
rural communities.
The impacts and distribution of the benefits (or costs)
associated with NRM technologies among different social
groups in rural communities are critical for enhancing (or
inhibiting) the implementation of by-laws to manage social
conflicts over natural resource commons.

20. ZIKOMO KWAMBILI
Thank You
!!!