Ethnic Minority Development Plan

Basic outline of GEF project area in Xiamaguan township, Tongxin county

Village name	Area　　（km^2）	No. of household	population（person）			Net income per capita in 2004（Yuan）	Net income per capita in 2005（Yuan）
			Subtotal	Wherein minority	（%）of total population
Nanguan	61	780	3393	3393	100%	1700	1800
Beiguan	21	230	1358	1222	90%	1700	1800
Xigou	55	536	2790	2623	94%	1700	1600
Wulidun	35	305	1567	235	15%	1500	1600
Wangguyao	36	304	1547	1470	95%	1500	1600
Shenjiatan	40	296	1425	0	0%	1500	1600
Chenerzhuang	46	342	1688	0	0%	1300	1400
Zhaojiamiao	19	176	838	92	11%	1300	1400
Shangheng	53	460	2497	0	0%	2100	2200
Xiaheng	39	350	1939	0	0%	2100	2400
Total	405	3779	19042	9035	47%

GEF project activities

The following measures are taken to deal with climate change and its negative impacts on agriculture all in light of the current circumstances in agriculture activities in Tongxin county.

(1) Adjustment on grain industrial structure and layout

Adjustment on agricultural structure and growing pattern will be promoted. The layout of agriculture zones will be optimized with dominant agricultural products to be produced in concentrated zones to form its industrial zone to enhance productivity in agriculture. The planting area for cash crop and forage will be enlarged to promote the conversion to the ternary structure: grain crop, forage and cash crop. Adjustment on cropping pattern, development of multiple harvests, enhancement of intensity index consist the main measures taken to deal with global warming. The specific measures to take place in Tongxin county, Ningxia region are to reduce plantation of wheat, increase that of corn so as to cut costs and enhance production with water saving irrigation. Agriculture protection measures will be applied to continuously enhance comprehensive productivity in agriculture.

(2) To improve crop variety by cultivating and selecting new anti type varieties

The specific measures include: cultivating new varieties with high productivity of anti-pest and photosynthesis, improving the layout of crop patterns, cultivating and selecting varieties resisting to drought, flood, high temperature and low temperature by plan, such as: genetic improvement by molecular biological methods and mastering the mechanism of biological nitrogen fixation and hormone adjustment.

(3)The management and coordination of water resources will be strengthened. Small scale water storage projects will be built up for water control and rational development and utilization of space water. Standardized construction pilot will be set up in Maguan demonstration area in Tongxin county for active development of water saving dry agriculture. Efforts will be put into small scale on-farm water works, field irrigation/drainage works, small scale irrigation districts, anti-drought water resource project in non-irrigation districts will be at the core of the efforts. Rain water collection projects in hilly areas and other water shortage areas will be accelerated.

(4) Improve farming modes by extension of free-silage and rural Biogas technology

Less plough is encouraged to protection soil texture. Rich roots plants such as bean type forage will be planted to reduce plough and increase organic content in soil. Bio-energy utilization will be enhanced such as power generation with biogas produced from livestock manure, the biogas slurry can be used as forage or fertilizer so as to enhance the utilization of material and energy. Free silage is also named protective silage, different to traditional ways of overall plough, the free silage covers soil surface with huge amount of straw stubble as long as it ensures the germination of seeds. Pesticide is used to control weeds and plant disease for water and soil reservation.

II Results and findings

The summary of the SA work

Based on the results of zoning exercises made at the county level, totally 9project villages - one from each project township with EMG were selected as the representatives for the SA fieldwork. The different activities made for SA and successive community consultations were summarized as the following table.

Table 2.1 The scope of SA and community consultation in the project townships with EMG

Prefecture	Survey villages	Key informant interview	Resource/ community mapping	Wealth ranking	Stakeholder analysis	Problem & countermeasure analyses	Consultation on inclusive framework
Yinchuan	3	4	3	3	3	6	3
Wuzhong	3	3	3	3	3	6	3
Nongken	3	3	3	3	3	6	3
Total	9	10	9	9	9	18	9

2.1 Residence of EMG within the project villages

With resource/community mapping made in the survey villages, a pattern of EMG residence could be found. In Ningxia, most of the EMG are Hui nationality, and some of them relatively lived together in several sub-villages within an administrative village, others mixed with Han. In the congregated village, population of Hui nationality takes up more than 70%.

Some of the sub-villages have poorer irrigation condition due to some locational reasons. For example, In Jingjiqiao village in Yinchuan , three sub-villages, that are the first, the seventh and the tenth sub-village have difficulty on irrigation because 50% of their arable land are on the highland, the water have to be pumped up. Wuzhong also has the same cases, such as the fourth sub-village of Tanqiao village. For another example, like the fifth sub-village of Youhao village, it locates along the end of sub-canal of Han canal, so as to have less water to irrigate. Such a pattern was also found in the other project counties.



Figure 2.1 the result of resource/community mapping in Tongbei Village, Yinchuan County

By such exercises of resource/community mapping, the sub-villages with EMG residence and/or poorer irrigation conditions were identified. Then their representatives were included in the SA and community consultation, and even, very often, to conduct SA and community consultation in such communities.

2.2 Identification of the key stakeholder

Through wealth ranking and stakeholder analysis, various types of households and stakeholders within the community were identified to ensure their representatives, esp. the poor and EMG, to be included in SA and community consultation, and the stakeholders’ interests in, and potential functions to, the project were analyzed. Those stakeholders include the communities with different irrigation conditions, esp. the sub-villages with more EMG residents and poorer conditions, various types of households and social groups, esp. the poor ones, women and youth. The results gained in different project villages in Ningxia could be summarized into the following table.

Figure 2.2 the result of stakeholder analysis made in Tanqiao Village, Qing Tongxia County

Table 2.2 The stakeholders at the community level, their interests in, and functions to project

Stakeholders	Interests in project	Potential functions to project
Party branch/ Village committee	Reduce their burden on irrigation management and have more time to solve other problems in the village.(+)	Supervise WUA Help WUA to resolve some management problem
Women federation		Help women to express their needs for water use
Poor households	It might be help poor farmers to use water with low price. Have enough water to irrigate, and the yield of rice is improved and get more income	Actively participate in the consultation on E&D of WUA. Can give some suggestions.
Women	Do not have to irrigate in the night. Save labour and time	Actively participate in the consultation on E&D of WUA
Youth and Middle-aged	Young people might do not care about this thing, because most of them are long-time migration. WUA can save labour and time and make people have more time to do their own business	Middle-aged people will be the main members of WUA, they can take more responsibilities. Some of young people who do not migrate out can participate in the WUA,
Mosque management committee		Help WUA to resolve water use conflict between farmers
Old		Rich experience; Give suggestions
EMG	There are no difference with Han for irrigation water use	Can have same benefits with Han

From the results of Stakeholder Analysis, it could be found that:

• 
  For Party branch and Village committee, the foundation of WUA can reduce their burden. In Ningxia, most of the irrigation water is in charge of the members of Party branch or Village committee and water management has taken up them so much time. If WUA take the charge of the work, Party branch and Village committee can save time to do other things. However, they can be supervisor, and if there are some troubles which can not be settled only by WUA, they can help.
  
• 
  Women federation can help women to reflect women’s demands on irrigation water use.
  
• 
  For poor households, they think WUA can help them manage water, and make them have enough irrigation water which will improve the yield of rice. If they have good harvest, they will have enough money to pay the water fee. Some of the poor people are handicapped; they hope WUA can reduce some water fee for them. After the WUA established, some of poor people can be member of the organization, and other ones also can provide some suggestions.
  
• 
  For women, they need not to irrigate water during night. Since most of the male labors have been long-time wage migration, women have to take on most of the farm work, including irrigating water. Sometimes, water came in night, women had to irrigate during night. But working in night is dangerous for them. If the WUA established, they will not irrigate the water in nights, and they would be very happy. Most of the women said they would to participate in the consultation on E&D of WUA, they said woman were more equitable than man, they could be good supervisors.
  
• 
  In Ningxia project villages with EMG, mosque management committees always play an important part on resolve conflicts, and they can help WUA resolve some problems.
  
• 
  The youth and middle-aged people are the main management members of WUA, they can take more responsibilities, except who went for long-time migration.
  
• 
  For the old, they do not work on farming, but they also can give some useful suggestions due to their rich experience.
  

2.3 Assessment of the project effects on EMG in project areas

With the causal diagramming and focused group discussion in the survey villages of the project counties, the situation and problems of the project villages, esp. the EMG communities and households, women and youth in irrigation water uses were analyses, the potential adverse and positive effects of WUAs’ E&D on their participation and getting benefit were assessed, and the countermeasures to eliminate or mitigate the adverse ones were identified. The following diagram shows one of the results, made in the sixth group village in Tongbei village in Yinchuan.

The core problems of the marginalized EMG communities in irrigation water use are hard to irrigate and hard to charge. The causes could attribute to the following:

• 
  Hard to irrigate. For woman group, they thought irrigation foundation was destroyed badly. Because the trench gates are made of iron, most of them were stolen, and the thieves still at large. Another reason is the trenches are too old, and are blocked seriously. They also mentioned that they located on the end of sub canal and have less water. For man group, they mentioned that trenches were too narrow, and the mouths of them were small. They also said pump could not lift water to high land.
  
• 
  Both man group and woman group mentioned that it was hard to charge the water fee. One reason is the low transparence on the water charge. They paid same money for water with different quality. And they have to pay 80% water fee in advance which is too much for farmers.
  

Figure2.1 Irrigation problem analysis of the sixth sub-village in Tongbei village (man group)

Note: Arrow means causal relation, beeline means correlation.

Figure2.2 Irrigation problem analysis of the sixth sub-village in Tongbei village (woman group)


Difficult to use irrigation water

Irrigation foundation were destroyed badly

Sub-canal is too long

Difficult to charge watering fee

Rice can not grow; more fertilizer and pesticide; low yield, and less income

Low transparence on the water charge

Sub-canals are too old to use

Sub-canal gates were stolen.

Located on the end of sub-canal and can’t get enough water

Electronic equipments are too old to use

Prepay 80% water fee.

Pay same money for water with different quality.

Some sub-canal are built by mud

Pay same money for watering highland and lowland

Sub-canal is blocked.

Sub-canal gates are made of iron.


2.4 Consultation with local EMG on their participation in and benefit from the project

After the situation and problem analyses on irrigation water use, the different focused group discussions were made in survey villages, esp. with the EMG and women respectively, on their participation in, and benefit from, the project, to see if there is any adverse possibility and how to eliminate or mitigate it. The following table is the summary of the discussions’ results in the sixth sub-village in Tongbei village in Yinchuan.

Table 2.3 the analyses on the stakeholders’ participation in, and benefits from, the project (man group)

Stakeholders	Participation
	Election + being elected in WUA	Problem discussion + decision making	Training
Old people	They can not be elected to be the head of WUA because they are old and less energy; but they can be elected to be the representative, they can provide good advice instead of manual work.	Old people would like to pay attention to this matter; and they have rich experience , they can be monitors and give suggestions	they would not participate in it, but can give some suggestions
Young people	Young men who do not go out for work, would like to participate, and have the capacity to do it.	Young men have more opportunity to express their ideas, and they always join the discussion actively	They would like to attend trainings which they think can improve their knowledge and capacity
Middleaged people	They are afraid of wasting working time.	They are better than young men due to their capacity and experience; and they like to participate the discussion	Some are the main labours, and they worried about wasting time
women	For women, they are impossible to be elected, because they are always be busy with house work.. Only a few capable women can be elected, but most can not be elected.	The WUA constitution must prescribe that women should be involved in the executive council
Poor people	It is difficult for poor people to pay for the water fee, so they can not be elected.	They have little opportunity to express their ideas.	They would like to attend training.

Table 2.4 the analyses on the stakeholders’ participation in, and benefits from, the project (woman group)

Stakeholders	Participation			Benefits
	Election + being elected in WUA	Problem discussion + decision making	Training	Irrigation water use/water fee
woman	They would like to attend the election, but they cannot be head of the WUA, because sometimes they need to get a short-term loan, but it is difficult for women to get the loan from bank. Hui women do not like show their face in public. The WUA constitution must stipulate that women should be involved in the executive council	Women did not attend the election of the representative of WUA and all of the representatives are male. So The WUA constitution must stipulate that women should be elected as representatives	They would like to participate, but there is no training	Water fee became more stable. If WUA can do better job for the water management, women could get around do some housework, and men could go out for migrate job
Old people	They have no time and energy to manage because of the five pilgrimages each day.	They would like to participate.	People who are interested in the training would like to attend. Some do not like to attend due to their different ideas with young man.	Irrigation water price will be lower and can save money.
Young and middle-aged people	If they are not long-time migration, they would like to participate, and they will be responsible.	They would like to participate, because it relates to everybody’ benefit	There is no place	Save labours are and more people can go out for migrate job
Poor people	No money, no prestige. Poor people can not be selected.	They have no power to make decision.	Most of them are handicapped; they are not convenient to attend.	It is difficult for poor people to pay for water fee.

Through the fieldwork of SA and Community Consultation, the local leaders of the survey villages and the representatives of various ethnic groups, farm household types and gender have gained the awareness on the necessity of WUA’s E&D and the equity among the social groups including the poor, women, old and youth. Because in Tongbei village, 98% of the population is Hui nationality, we did not discuss for the EMG. The followings are the consensuses agreed upon during the process in the survey villages of the project counties:

• 
  The establishment of WUA will be helpful to liberate more labors, especially for women and old men.
  
• 
  The constitution of WUA should stipulate that EMG and women should occupy a certain proportion of the leaders, and one quota of people for each sub-village, to ensure the countermeasures formulated could reflect the opinions of EMG, women and communities.
  
• 
  WUA should have the place to conduct its activities such as training, meetings and discussions and the daily operation.
  
• 
  The training should ensure every household has opportunities to attend, especially for women; and the consultation on the countermeasures and activities should include and involve the representatives of various EMG water users.
  
• 
  The necessary devices to measure water flow should be added for the villages/sub-villages and water user households to check and ratify the volume of water use.
  

3.