Mokoro : Land, Livelihoods and Natural Resources
Despite a decade of buoyant economic growth in developing countries, a recent World Development Report emphasised that the majority of poor people in developing countries continue to live in rural areas, and that most of them depend either directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihoods and food security. This has sharpened the attention of governments and donors on designing and implementing development policies, programmes and projects that can make a difference to the lives of hundreds of millions of rural poor. African governments had already responded with the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) focusing on transforming agriculture from subsistence production to farming as a business. Under the CAADP, this is to be achieved through a combination of agribusiness, efficient input use, market orientation and access, and increasing access to agricultural credit. Other contemporary issues affecting the same goal include responsible investment, land tenure governance and recognition of women’s land rights and contribution in agriculture.
Many urban poor also depend on agriculture, either directly growing crops on small house-plots or pieces of wasteland in urban areas or depending on the ‘family farm’ up-country. Labour can migrate seasonally and cyclically between rural and urban areas. Land, farming, livelihoods and the management of natural resources are intertwined and continue be central issues in tackling poverty.
Secure and equitable land tenure is essential for livelihoods, poverty reduction and for equitable gender relations. Appropriate reform of the arrangements under which people use, occupy and transact land and other natural resources is essential if rights holders are to manage and use their resources sustainably and invest in improvements. More effective governance and support services, including innovative forms of public-private partnerships, are needed to bring about significant productivity increases in small-scale farming. Policy development must therefore be based on an understanding of community/local dynamics, sound planning and public finance management and capacity development, - all areas where Mokoro can provide expertise.
Mokoro experience
Mokoro provides technical, social, legal and economic advice on land, livelihoods, agriculture and natural resources. Mokoro consultants work in research and training, policy development, the planning and implementation of land and natural resource policies and legal reforms, institutional and capacity development, and programme planning and evaluation.
Mokoro’s experience spans land policy, management and administration, including urban and peri-urban land issues, dispute resolution, land rights for women, pastoralists and indigenous people, community land management, land and agricultural investments and governance of tenure.
Mokoro’s natural resource management experience includes socio-economic aspects of land use planning, range management, community-based natural resource management, and the resolution of people/wildlife conflicts.
Mokoro consultants also cover a range of socio-economic, livelihoods and agricultural issues, spanning smallholder food production strategies, new (and old) ways of looking at agricultural research and extension, and decentralised development planning in the context of local government reform and social protection. Mokoro has also assisted with agri-business development and agricultural sector public expenditure reviews.
Our consultants work both within governments and with civil society, backed up by research, including experience in post-conflict and fragile states.
Lead consultant:
Experts:
Martin Adams
Elizabeth Daley
Catherine Dom
Peter Oates
Robin Palmer
Stephen Turner