Descripción y uso previsto de los productos

The study site Cusseque is located on the southern Bié Plateau of central Angola, within a landscape of undulating hills that form part of the upriver area of the Okavango catchment. At an altitude of about 1,560 m a.s.l., these hills are mostly covered by a mosaic of pristine vegetation, consisting of Miombo-woodland on the summits, grassland on the slopes and small fringes of peatland along the many fast-flowing creeks and rivers in the valley bottoms (Fig.1.2). Cusseque River - the name-sake of the study site and of one of the four local villages- is one of many tributaries to the Okavango River.

Fig. 1.2: Landscape catena of Cusseque

Source: Gröngröft et al. 2013a.

Climatic conditions are semi-humid and characterized by a pronounced rainy season between November and April (Weber 2013b). In the period from 1971 to 2000, mean annual rainfall amounted to 987 mm, yet there was a high inter-annual variability and a trend of decreasing annual precipitation levels (ibid.). Mean annual temperature in Cusseque amounts to 20.4 °C, with October being the hottest (23 °C) and July the coldest month (16.1°C). The hilly topography results in more frequent frost days in the grassy valleys (30+ nights per year of

temperatures as low as -7°C) than on elevated and forested summits; this limits the potential for irrigated horticultural or agricultural production in the valley bottom during the dry season (Pröpper et al. 2015). Another obstacle to farming on the grassy slopes is a wild plant called

Cassamba, the woody shoots of which present an obstacle to non-mechanized soil

preparation. Arable agriculture in Cusseque is almost exclusively practiced within the

Miombo woodlands on the summits. Dominating soils here are slightly loamy, deep and

developed arenosols (Gröngröft et al. 2013b). Their soil chemical parameters are highly variable, but on the summits relatively high temperatures and precipitation levels have resulted in leaching and low pH-values of 3.4 – 4.4. These parameters change only slightly with increasing soil depth (Gröngröft et al. 2013b).

Socioeconomic setting

Cusseque is situated in the Angolan Municipaltiy of Chitembo, which has a population of 68,581 inhabitants and a low population density of 3.6 persons per km² (Pröpper et al. 2015). As 46 % of population is concentrated in and around Chitembo-town (Abdelli & Jouen 2012), rural population densities are even lower. In both study site and the region’s urban centers, population is undergoing rapid growth (Holden 2015); re-migration from urban to rural communities is a widespread phenomenon (mainly of people who were displaced during the war), but also from rural communities to urban centres (ibid.).

Angola suffered through four decades of civil war (1975 - 2002). This bloody conflict left its mark on the study site. The agricultural sector was severely affected by the war, especially in Bié province, where fighting was fiercest (Abdelli & Jouen 2012). According to interviews with village elders, before the outbreak of the war, the entire region was dotted with fields and small settlements. Yet by the end of the conflict, landmines and aerial bombardment had led to a drastic decline in agricultural activities. The war furthermore forced farmers into quasi- nomadism or to cultivate small plots hidden deep in the forest (Abdelli & Jouen 2012). Others gave up on their holdings and fled to the relative safety of the cities, which were guarded by the different military factions. This massive rural exodus occurred mainly towards the end of the conflict in the 1990’s and created countless and as of yet unresolved issues about natural resource management, tenure and use of rural lands (ibid.). According to interviews, it also allowed for the Miombo-vegetation to reclaim the formerly cultivated lands in the forests and give these areas their current appearance of primary vegetation.

After the war in 2002, refugees gradually returned to their former villages in Bié to re-build what had been lost – yet without government assistance and lack of initial capital most households struggled (Abdelli & Jouen 2012). Up to today, high levels of poverty characterize the province and limited knowledge contributes to the fact that subsistence agriculture still remains by far the dominant livelihood source (ibid.).

The end of the war also initiated a trend of on-going forest conversion to other land uses. Nowadays, a frontier of forest conversion appears to be approaching the study site from the northwest, which is likely to be fueled by rising population densities and improving market access (see Fig. 1.3). During times of colonial rule, a similar frontier of (semi-)permanent farming swept across Angola’s central highlands and turned local swidden cultivators into sedentary farmers (Pössinger 1968). This may be indicative of the future awaiting Cusseque.

Fig. 1.3: Deforestation in southern Angola and Cusseque between 2000 and 2012.

Source: Author’s design, based on Hansen et al. (2013). Note: The stock of remaining woodland in 2012 is indicated by the green area, while areas deforested between 2000 and 2012 are indicated by red areas. A strong decline in forest area can be observed coming both in the eastern communities as well as coming from north- west, along the main road axis (orange) and around the urban hub of Chitembo.

During the conflict, the village Cusseque (one of the four villages in the study site) was established by one of the war parties. It served as a replacement for a small military post which had protected a nearby bridge over Cusseque river and consists mainly of inhabitants who are not native to the study site (Nganguela, while the three original villages belong to the

Tchokwe – Holden 2015). The Nganguela are still seen as outsiders and are forced to borrow

the land from the Tchokwe (for free). This is a common phenomenon in shifting cultivation (see Ruthenberg 1971) and thus used here as a first indication of Cusseque’s classification as a society practicing shifting cultivation.

Since 2010, an all-weather tar road and irregular public busses connects Cusseque to the provincial capitals of Menongue in the south and Cuito Bié & Huambo in the north, all of which lie at a distance of more than 130 km. Except for the nearby township Chitembo (40 km to the north), there are only a few other, small settlements along the main road. Apart from a network of footpaths (which crisscross the hinterland), there are no secondary roads in the area. Water for domestic consumption is taken directly from the river or from a small well; there are no water treatment facilities. The study site is not connected to an electricity network, yet cellphone coverage has recently reached all settlements along the tar road (Pröpper et al. 2015). Primary schools up to grade 8 are accessible from all four villages of the study site and a higher school in the nearby municipal center Chitembo (Holden 2015). Small shops at the roadside meet the local demand, yet manufacturing is virtually non-existent (ibid.).

Today, Cusseque represents an early stage of an agrarian society, where the use of natural resources plays an important role for livelihood strategies (Holden 2015) and where manual labour is the main energy source for productive activities. Fossil fuel based energy sources still play only a minor role: although 67 % of household do own a flashlight, wood remains the main energy source for cooking, heating and light. Furthermore, only 15 % of households own a small diesel generator and the use of chemical field inputs virtually non-existent.

Livelihood strategies in Cusseque

The results of my livelihood analysis (based on the household survey) revealed that livelihood strategies within Cusseque are relatively homogeneous. Arable agriculture represents by far the most important livelihood source and is practiced by 100 % of all households. This may be connected to the favourable environmental conditions (compared to the lower catchment in Namibia and Botswana) and land abundance, making crop production a worthwhile activity. Households regularly achieve crop surpluses, which are sold at the roadside or on nearby markets. Natural resources are a widespread livelihood source; they are used by 96 % of all households. Wild fruits are the most commonly collected resource (87 % of households HH), followed by honey (83 %), game (81%), fish (68 %) and roots (63 %). However, of highest importance for subsistence (in terms of amounts extracted) are fish, honey and game. Livestock keeping is of only minor importance and concentrates mainly on poultry (60 % of all HH), pigs (20 %) and goats (8 %); all of these animals are kept in small quantities for domestic consumption (Holden 2015).

In the wake of Angola’s rapid economic development in the post-war period, a gradual livelihood diversification is taking place. The newly-tarred road provides relatively reliable access to the small but growing urban market of Chitembo and has induced a commodification of natural resource use. Nowadays, sales of honey and bushmeat are the most widespread natural resources for cash income generation; since 2006, motorcycles allow hunters to advance up to 35 km into the hinterlands, using the existing network of foot-paths (Holden 2015) and resulting in considerably declined game populations since 2007 (Pröpper et al. 2015). Growing market access has also induced a few families in each village to become involved in charcoal production; this relatively recent activity is seen as a quick, non-seasonal cash source, which can be marketed either at the road side or in Chitembo. From 2013 to 2014 alone, charcoal production more than doubled19 (Holden 2015) and led to localized forest degradation, which can become detrimental to both agriculture and honey production, both of which depend on non-degraded forest ecosystems.

Tab. 1.9 shows the current characteristics of a typical smallholder household in study site Cusseque. However, today’s apparent homogeneity of livelihood strategies in Cusseque stands in contrast with the strong socioeconomic and socio-demographic dynamics that are increasingly affecting the study site. Most villagers returned to the study site only after 2002 to take up their economic activities and rising market access will provide both opportunities and threats to rural livelihoods. The following farming system analysis will take these trends into account for its analysis of likely and potential pathways of agricultural development.

Tab. 1.9: Characteristics of a typical household in Cusseque, Angola.

Household characteristics Mean /proportion Std. dev.

Household (HH) size in persons 6.2 2.59

Number of producers (aged: 16 - 59) 3 1.73

Share of producers on HH size 0.48 0.20

Share of males on entire HH 0.5 0.19

Female household head, % 13

Average Age of a household head 45

HH with HH members who finished secondary school, % 2.5

HH with HH members who finished primary school, % 25

Source: Author’s design based on empirical data. Note: Information on cash income and livestock ownership is not available for Cusseque, but only for the other study sites Mashare and Seronga. However, livelihood strategies are homogeneous and farmer interviews revealed that both livelihood sources are of only minor importance for households in Cusseque (aside from the few charcoal producers and shop owners).

Land tenure in Cusseque

Officially, land tenure lies with the national state; it is currently administered communally. Although community members have no formal land rights, local customary law has effectively allocated land and avoided conflicts within the community (Pröpper et al. 2015). Nowadays, villagers hold informal general use rights to all of their community lands, e.g. for activities such as the collection of natural resources or honey production. Furthermore, they hold exclusive household-specific use rights to specific plots of land, which allow for exploitative use such as forest clearing for agriculture, cultivation or charcoal making. Although not formally recognized, these plots are permanently allocated to households by traditional authorities within the communities. As mentioned before, the non-native inhabitants of the village Cusseque depend upon land and land rights that are borrowed-for-

free from the three native villages of the study site.

1.6.1.2 Results of the farming system analysis in Cusseque