SCALING UP IN AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, AND NUTRITION


Rehabilitating China’s Loess Plateau JOHN MACKEDON


Focus 19 • brIeF 5 • June 2012


subsistence virtually impossible. Millennia of agricultural exploitation and relentless grazing by domestic livestock had taken their toll, transforming the once lush region into a dustbowl unsuitable for supporting its rural population. Today, thanks to one of the largest land rehabilitation development projects ever conceived, the plateau is a thriving, lush ecosystem providing improved livelihoods for more than 3 million farmers and their families. The Loess Plateau Watershed Rehabilitation Project, implemented by the Government of the People’s Republic of China with the assistance of the World Bank, did more than just transform a region in China—it proved that large-scale ecosystem rehabilitation projects were both possible and replicable, redefining the notion of scaling up in agricultural development and paving the way for similar efforts to take hold in places like Ethiopia and Rwanda.


F An ambitious theory of change


A clearly defined and usable theory of change (TOC) is an important component of any successful project and a vital element to the scaling up of successful initiatives. The Loess Plateau project involved a highly ambitious TOC, including transformation of ingrained agricultural practices, large-scale ecosystem rehabilitation, and the introduction of new crops. It built on the success of a model of alternative farming techniques being implemented elsewhere in the country. Establishing incentive and accountability drivers also helped propel this project, as did creating appropriate environmental, policy, and cultural spaces. The sponsors were willing to take significant risks in their desire


to rehabilitate the vast plateau. For the initiative to succeed, farmers in the region had to abandon goat-herding practices that they had employed for generations, and the sponsors introduced new crops on the terraced mountain slopes and in the fertile valley fields. Although this project’s TOC required a major shift in long-standing cultural and economic practices among project beneficiaries, its implementing agencies were able to bring about these changes through the identification and creation of drivers and spaces— components that have since been incorporated into the scaling-up efforts of similar interventions.


Drivers


The Loess Plateau project featured a number of key drivers that served as crucial elements for the project’s success. First was the model of changed agricultural practice, which served as the catalyst for the initial implementation processes. It was not until the project sponsors were exposed to a simple model for change being implemented in the nearby village of Shageduo that an initial breakthrough for the rehabilitation project was achieved and important drivers forged. Replacing traditional goat herding with walnut tree farming in Shageduo had resulted in drastically


ifteen years ago China’s Loess Plateau was a barren region plagued by wind and soil erosion, making farming beyond


improved farmlands in the gullies near the village, and this example provided the change model underlying the implementation of the plateau project over the next decade. A first driver, the idea that man-made degradation of large-scale ecosystems could be reversed through agricultural initiatives, was coupled with a second—the model of successful and sustainable alternative livelihood practices. With this combination, the sponsors were able to demonstrate the positive implications of this process and produce a working model for replication. In addition, the drivers of incentives and accountability


helped solidify the crucial components of legitimacy and buy-in among local farmers whose participation ensured sustainability. Building on the demonstrated success of the replacement of goats with trees—which provided both economic and ecological incentives—and providing crop ownership opportunities through low-cost, long-term land-leasing options created the necessary economic incentives and stakeholder buy-in to induce the required behavior change. Finally, the success of this project was ensured by one


additional driver: a series of champions. Throughout project design, implementation, and completion, champions from both the World Bank and within various Chinese government ministries continuously monitored and pushed for the progress of this intervention and quickly responded to any problems that arose— helping the project build continuously on successes and avoid potential pitfalls.


Spaces


The Loess Plateau Watershed Rehabilitation project was successful in both identifying key obstacles that might have hindered success and minimizing the risks posed by these obstacles. Of the different spaces created during this intervention, four areas stand out as being of particular importance in the scaling-up context.


• Natural resource/environmental space: Of utmost importance to this project’s design was the ultimate rehabilitation of the Loess Plateau watershed, which had the triple-win potential of improving a large-scale ecosystem, creating an agricultural environment that was more sustainable for rural livelihoods, and contributing to climate change adaptation and mitigation. Without the creation of appropriate natural resource and environmental space, this project would not have succeeded. The spaces created through enlarged and improved terracing along mountain slopes and fertile fields in the once-barren and flood-prone valleys resulted in both enlarged areas for agricultural production and increased yields from improved land management. Equally important to the creation of these spaces was the transformation of the space once dominated by herds of goats and other livestock. Newly constructed pens allowed for necessary shifts in land management to occur without abolition of the culturally ingrained practices of goat


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