FOOD SECURITY AND WATER IN AFRICA’S DRYLANDS

A dense stand of Piliostigma reticulatum on fields in the Konni department of Niger (January 2012).Their pods are good fodder for livestock and also serve as famine food. They are perceived to improve soil fertility. In the background a number of trees, which have been pruned and developed a trunk and a canopy. In the foreground very young and dense Piliostigma bushes that capture a lot of fine and fertile dust moved by the harmattan winds.

The international media are drawing our attention to the food crisis, which is emerging in the Sahel. They express the fear that the Sahel is facing a crisis similar to the one recently experienced in the Horn of Africa. The 2011 rainy season in the Sahel was characterized by low and irregular rainfall and in some regions also by crop pests. In November 2011 it was estimated that Niger alone would have a food deficit of almost 600,000 ton. The indication is that not all areas in Niger are equally affected by shortages in cereal production. A map produced by the Famine Early Warning Systems (FEWS) in September 2011 indicated that the predicted shortages seemed to be less severe in some areas of Southern Niger with high density on-farm trees.

Using some funds from the International Fund for Agricultural Development available for developing a national policy dialogue around re-greening, two researchers from the University of Niamey (Prof. Yamba Boubacar and Mr. Sambo) undertook a quick study in five villages in the Kantché department (Southern Zinder) to look at re-greening and food security. On February 24 they forwarded a first draft report. They did a survey among 197 farm households, but they also looked at some national statistics. Let’s start with the latter. The data of the National Committee for the Prevention and Management of Food Crises and the Famine Early Warning Systems in Niger indicate that the Kantché Department (350,000 inhabitants) systematically produced a cereal surplus since 2007 and also in 2011.

2007 + 21,230 ton
2008 + 36,838 ton
2009 + 28,122 ton
2010 + 64,208 ton
2011 + 13,818 ton

Is it a coincidence that this area with high population densities and high on-farm tree densities produces cereal surpluses? Can it be due to other interventions? Can it be that this area received a bit more rainfall and/or had a slightly better distribution of rainfall? What we can say at this stage is that the surplus is not due to other interventions. It also true that most of this area has high density young agroforestry parkland strongly dominated by Faidherbia albida, a nitrogen fixing species, which helps maintain and improve soil fertility. Although the Kantché department as a whole produced a cereal surplus in 2011, the poorest farmers will still be facing food shortages.

The information in the draft report also shows that the poorest households often derive significant income from their on-farm trees in the form of fodder, firewood, fruit and leaves part of which is sold on the market. Trees are an important source of farm income. Yamba and Sambo mention, for instance, that the sale of leaves from a single mature baobab tree (Adansonia digitata) generates an income of 27 US $ to 75 US $ depending on when the leaves get on the market. This income alone allows the owner of the baobab(s) (often women) to buy 75 to 175 kg of cereals on the market. In parts of the Mirriah department (Zinder Region), baobab is the dominating species and one finds many mature, but also young baobabs.

Why do farmers invest in trees?
Yamba and Sambo asked farmers why they protected and managed on-farm trees. They could provide more than one answer, but the dominating answer was (58%) for soil fertility and for food (25%). Farmers (men and women) across the Sahel are very worried about declining soil fertility and are ready to do everything to reverse a decline in soil fertility and certain tree species are perceived to improve soil fertility (Faidherbia albida, Piliostigma reticulatum, Combretum glutinosum, Guiéra senegalensis).

Some conclusions about agroforestry
1. On-farm trees increase and stabilize access of farm households to food. They reduce the risk of crop failure and even if crops fail, the trees provide other forms of income that allow farmers to buy expensive cereals on the market.
2. Average cereal yields under agroforestry in Niger remain low (usually about 450 kg/ha or more depending on soils, soil fertility management and groundwater level) and the use of modest doses of inorganic fertilizers is required to significantly increase yields.
3. Tree litter helps maintain or improve soil fertility by increasing the organic matter content of the soil, which improves the efficiency of fertilizer use and the water holding capacity of the topsoil. Trees first and micro doses of fertilizers next.
4. A recent study has shown that in certain situations trees can also decrease cereal yields, but the study did not indicate under which conditions. None of the farmers in the new agroforestry parklands in Niger, Mali and Burkina has ever mentioned this. Even if this would be the case, the multiple benefits of the tree capital outweighs a loss in cereals. If this were not the case, the farmers would cut the on-farm trees.

This picture of an old agroforestry parkland dominated by shea trees (Vitellaria paradoxa) and néré (Parkia biglobosa) in Mali shows that the vegetation on the communal fields has been destroyed for the production of charcoal for the capital Bamako. However, no one touches a single tree in the parkland. Tree densities are high and the canopy cover is significant. This may lead to lower cereal yields, which is very likely more than compensated for by the value of the products produced by these trees.

5. Although not everybody will readily believe it, when young trees are pruned, they develop a trunk and a canopy, and the prunings produce twigs that women can burn in their kitchen and the leaves add to the organic matter content of the soil. Trees produce benefits quickly and depending on species, rainfall and altitude can grow rapidly.

 

Water harvesting, groundwater recharge, small-scale irrigation and trees
The rural population in most drylands is rapidly increasing in absolute numbers, which makes it essential not only to increase food production and improve access to food, but also to increase the availability of water for the growing human population, but also for their livestock and for small-scale irrigation. This requires that available rainfall and runoff is captured and stored as much as possible in the soil.

We have a lot of anecdotal evidence of local increases in groundwater after the introduction of simple water harvesting techniques, like planting pits, half moons, contour stone bunds and low water spreading dams. They all force rainfall and runoff to slow down and infiltrate into the soil. ARI update 2012 no.2 tells the story about the village of Batodi in Niger’s Illéla department, which experienced a significant increase in water levels in their wells since they introduced planting pits and half moons in the early 1990s. The cereal crops in this village largely failed in 2011, but there are now 10 vegetable gardens in the village (0 in 1994). It will be a harsh year for many farm households, but without the investments in water harvesting it would have been a lot harsher. Similar stories can be told for the Northern part of Burkina Faso’s Central Plateau and for villages in Tigray (Ethiopia).

Natural regeneration on degraded slopes in combination with stone walls forces rainfall and runoff to infiltrate, which leads to groundwater recharge and expansion of irrigation in valleys and to the emergence of permanent springs (Tigray, Ethiopia).

We have a lot of anecdotal evidence, which taken together point to a plausible relationship between water harvesting and local groundwater recharge, but this is obviously one of the gaps in our knowledge that needs to be filled.

Conclusion
It is vital to create more productive and drought resilient farming systems in the Sahel and in the Horn of Africa to increase food production and improve soil fertility. Expanding agroforestry and developing water harvesting systems to recharge groundwater are vital first steps. There is no time to lose.

Update nr. 4

This update begins with a story about the scale of re-greening on Mali’s Seno Plains between the escarpment of the Dogon Plateau and the border with Burkina Faso. This picture shows high tree densities and older trees close to the escarpment. When we look beyond a band with low tree density, a sea of trees can be seen in the distance stretching across the plains. Gray Tappan of USGS-EROS has now uncovered the scale of re-greening.

How did this agroforestry parkland emerge?Just a few remarks and observations:

a. SahelECO and its predecessor SOS Sahel UK have promoted farmer-managed re-greening since the middle of the 1990s.

b. The radio station of Bankass was used to spread the information about the new forestry law of 1995.

c. An increase in rainfall since the middle of the 1990s probably supported the process of regeneration, but as we know from Niger….human management is a more decisive factor in re-greening than rainfall. The process of re-greening in Niger began a decade before the increase in average rainfall and Northern Nigeria has much lower tree densities than Southern Niger despite higher rainfall.



d. Traditional institutions responsible for the management of trees (Barahogon and others) have been successfully revived in this region.

e. SahelECO staff report that about 5% of the trees on the Seno Plains are older than 15 – 20 years and the large bulk of trees is younger.

Source: Gray Tapan USGS-EROS

f. Gray Tappan notes that (1) one finds low densities of on-farm trees on another 175,000 ha; (2) the Seno Plains had high tree densities in the 1960s….they probably dwindled in the 1960s and 1970s and this U curve now shows an upward trend; (3) on the Plateau Dogon itself…interesting examples of high tree densities are found….but this was not part of the analysis.





On the Dogon Plateau one finds cultivated fields with high densities of young Combretum not included in the data for the Seno Plains. It is not only good firewood, but women also gather the leaves and use it as manure in irrigated gardens.

Conclusion: a major agro-environmental transformation has occurred during the last 15 – 20 years on the Seno Plains…its scale was unknown until now….Gray Tappan used high resolution satellite images to uncover the scale…more research needs to be done about the history, evolution and dynamics of this young agroforestry parkland. SahelECO and its partners continue to promote farmer-managed re-greening in this region and elsewhere in Mali. Where a set of conditions are united…it is possible to induce farmers to invest in on-farm trees and transform landscapes and production systems at scale.

There is more good news to report.

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
The IFAD project about “support to re-greening in the Sahel” has now been signed by IFAD and by VU University Amsterdam and activities will now be started up (see ARI update 2011 no. ).

World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)
Dr. Dennis Garrity, DG of the World Agroforestry Centre, visited Amsterdam on May 1 and 2. Points on the agenda included: closer cooperation between ICRAF’s Evergreen Agriculture Initiative and African Re-greening Initiatives, which s likely to take shape in 2011; building a movement around Evergreen Agriculture and Farmer-Managed Re-greening; joint advocacy and research on impacts of re-greening.

One of the immediate impacts of the visit by Dennis Garrity is that the Centre for World Food Studies of VU University Amsterdam will develop a research proposal on “ the impact of re-greening in Niger on food security” and the department of hydrology will develop a research proposal on “the impact of re-greening on surface and groundwater hydrology”.

Dennis Garrity also mentioned that Evergreen Agriculture rapdly gets a higher profile in India. Prof. M.S. Swaminathan, the highly-respected father of the Green Revolution in India, published a book in 2010 “ From Green to Evergreen Revolution”. This book was officially launched by India’s PM. Under a new Evergreen Agriculture Initiative India plans to plant large numbers of “fertilizer trees”. More about this in future updates. It is quite likely that the protection and management of natural regeneration also has a potential for India.

Ethiopia
The Environmental Protection Agency seems interested in funding a project to protect and expand “church forests” or “belief system forests”, which are centuries old remnants of forests. They show what is called the climax vegetation. These small forests, which have a high biodiversity, risk to disappear due to gradual encroachment by farmers. The amount of funding is not yet known.

Media attention
The Voice of America recently had an excellent story about farmer-managed re-greening, which integrates different messages.



Upcoming events
From 6 – 8 June a workshop will be held in Bamako to discuss the methodology for the ICRAF study about the socioeconomic impact in the Sahel.

From 10 – 16 June, the First African Drylands Week will be held in Dakar. It is a contribution to the International Year of the Forests. One of its objectives is to exploit the knowledge developed in 3 decades of combating desertification and implementing sustainable land management to adapt to climate change and ensure sustainable development.

On April 23, the French TV station France 5 showed a 50 minute french version of the documentary “The man who stopped the desert”. It will be shown again on May 9.

Update April 2011

The first picture shows an example of large-scale mechanized commercial
agriculture in Hawassa in Ethiopia’s Rift valley. In the distance on the right
hand side of the picture a tractor is ploughing the bare land. Two hours later
strong gusts of wind blew tons of topsoil from this ploughed field over lake
Hawassa (February 24, 2011). The owner of the land will have to apply
tons of fertilizers to compensate for the loss of fertile topsoil. No on-farm trees
to protect the land against wind and sun. It’s a clear example of unsustainable
agriculture.

RE-GREENING AND AFRICAN FOOD SECURITY
During my visit to Mali in the first week of April, I was told that the demographic growth rates for Mali had been revised upwards on the basis of a recent study. The assumption was that the growth rate was 2.2%, but the study showed that it is 3.6%. This means that Mali’s population will double in 20 years. Niger has a similar growth rate. The fact is that the population of many African countries will double in the next 20 to 25 years.

At the same time rainfall is becoming more irregular and soil fertility is depleting in many areas because traditional soil fertility restoration techniques (fallow) can no longer be used. Fertilizer prices are soaring, world market prices for cereals are increasing, food security stocks are declining. The macro picture for the next 20 years is quite gloomy. It’s obvious that major action is urgently required to sustainably intensify African agriculture .

Experience shows that farmers who have increased the number of on-farm (and sometimes off-farm) trees have not only improved household food security, but also adapted to climate change, maintained or improved soil fertility through nitrogen fixation and increased soil organic matter content, sequestered carbon in trees and soils, not only produced more food, but also more fodder and fuel . Agroforestry is not a silver bullet, other action is also required , but it is to all farmers the lowest cost pathway to sustainably intensify agriculture and the recurrent costs to governments and donor agencies are zero.

Experience in Niger shows that it is possible to build new agroforestry systems at scale. The 5 million ha of re-greened land produces more food, fodder, fuel and many other benefits. It is estimated that the impacts of re-greening feeds an additional 2.5 million people .

Many smaller and bigger examples in agriculture and in agroforestry in and outside the Sahel show that it is possible to expand the scale of existing successes . African Re-greening Initiatives has developed a strategy for building on existing successes, which it is trying to implement. The first indications are promising.

Although the macro picture is gloomy and we seem to be heading into what Roland Bunch calls “a perfect storm” , it is not a fatality, but we can’t afford to delay substantive action, because climate change is already aggravating the problem .

Re-greening in Burkina Faso
During its first year the re-greening initiative involved 106 villages in 6 provinces. What we see happening in the second year is a ripple effect. Neighbouring villages request to be also involved. For instance, in Gnagna Province 6 villages have joined and in Sanmatenga province the number of villages increased from 12 to 22. The total number of villages involved now stands at 125. In addition to this there is growing pressure to expand to other provinces. After the official launch of the re-greening initiative on January 25, 2011, two provinces have officially requested to also be included.

During meetings end March with key partners (Reseau MARP, Tree Aid, World Neighbours and representatives from local NGOs who operate as extension agents for re-greening at provincial level), it was decided to:

1. now start a process of monitoring and evaluation and develop tools for self-monitoring and self-evaluation by resource users and a small team has already been created to undertake this work;

2. intensify exchange and study visits by farmers and herders before the rainy season.

The exchange and study visits will concentrate on villages within the same “commune” in order to maximize the number of participants and reduce costs. Nevertheless, it was deemed important urgent to organize a visit by farmers and herders from Soum province (the region around Dori) to the Seno plains in Mali where significant re-greening has occurred…and farmers from the Seno Plains could be invited to train farmers and herders in Soum province.

The launch of “The man who stopped the desert” in Burkina Faso.

On March 27 the documentary about the life and work of Yacouba Savadogo was shown in his village. About 500 villagers joined the event. The next evening it was shown in the open air cinema of Ouahigouya, the regional capital. Even more people attended that event. After the showing Yacouba was almost overrun by those who wanted to congratulate him.

The link below is a 10 minute film which shows the events in the village and in the cinema.

http://www.1080films.co.uk/yacoubamovie/

Re-greening in Mali
During a short visit to the Seno Plains around Bankass on March 29 my impression was that the scale of on-farm re-greening in this region is under-estimated. The numbers used tend be around 15,000 ha, but it is obviously much more. Gray Tappan of the US Geological Survey is now using satellite images to get to grips with the scale. The first results will be known within a few weeks. The pictures on the next page give some impression about the diversity of situations in the area around Bankass.

This field close to Endé has a young high-density stand of Combretum Glutinosum, which provides high quality firewood. Densities are up to 270 trees/ha. Farmers prune the trees in June in such a way that competition with crops is minimized. The trees also produce several tons of litter/ha as can be seen on this picture. The picture below shows a stand of high-density young Faidherbia albida.

Like in Burkina Faso, a ripple effect is taking place. In all areas that the re-greening initiative is working, new villages want to join. The initiative is now active in the regions of Mopti, Tominian and Segou and will soon expand to Koulikoro. In the Mopti region 300 farmers participated in a re-greening competition and the fields of all these farmers were visited and demarcated by a committee of composed of representatives of the technical services (agriculture, forestry…..).

From the point of view of the promotion of farmer-managed re-greening, several positive, but also one negative development can be reported in Mali. The negative development is that Mali adopted a new forestry law in 2010, which does not mention agroforestry systems and natural regeneration. The new law is about repression and not about education. It is about deterring farmers to invest in on-farm trees rather than about inducing them to invest. The authorities recently decided to temporarily put the law on hold….as some protests against it turned violent. It is not unlikely that the new law will be adapted.

A very positive development is that the new Strategic Investment Plan for Sustainable Land Management in Mali specifically mentions farmer-managed re-greening as a high priority. This certainly offers opportunities for developing a national strategy for re-greening and for increased investments in agroforestry.

Re-greening in Tigray (Ethiopia)

Tony Rinaudo and Rob Francis of World Vision Australia were in Tigray in March as a follow-up to a training workshop on farmer managed natural regeneration by Tony 8 months ago. Tony’s report mentions that the Bureau of Agriculture has decided to institutionalize famer-managed natural regeneration and integrate it into their normal programming. This is highly relevant as the Bureau is the driving force behind the large-scale re-greening in Tigray. This may ultimately lead to the sustainable management and exploitation of natural regeneration as well as planted trees in what is called enclosures (over one million hectares). If you want more info, please contact: tony.rinaudo@worldvision.com.au

The Web Alliance for Re-greening in Africa (W4RA)

See previous update. The website for African Re-greening Initiatives is still under construction. A number of colleagues of VU University, World Wide Web Foundation and SahelECO will present a paper at the Web Science Conference in Koblenz (Germany) in June.

Is (Web) Science Ready for Empowerment?
Issues of Scientific Method – Illustrated by a Demo Roadshow in West Africa
Hans Akkermans, Nana Baah Gyan, The Network Institute, VU University Amsterdam
Anna Bon, Wendelien Tuyp, CIS, VU University Amsterdam, Aman Grewal, Stéphane Boyera, World Wide Web Foundation, London/Toulouse, Mary Allen, SahelEco, Bamako, Mali
Extended Abstract Submission ACM Web Science Conference 2011, Koblenz, D, 14-17 June 2011
Abstract. The World Wide Web opens up many avenues for new research. Some of them (Web as observable phenomenon, Web as engineered technology) fall quite well within mainstream academic notions of research. This is much less so if we position the Web as an instrument for empowerment. Informed by our W4RA field research experiences in West Africa, we review issues of scientific research and methodology if it is to be relevant to issues of empowerment. Keywords: The pro-human Web, evolving technologies, knowledge production, Web futures

A HERO

Below you see the picture of Adama Kindo taken on March 28. He recently returned from Ivory Coast to the village of Bogoya (Burkina Faso). Adama lost an arm in a road accident in Ivory Coast, but using his left arm he just dug zaï on about a hectare and filled them with compost. Adama is determined to develop a diverse agroforestry system just as his cousin Ousséni Kindo has done since 1985 on an adjacent field of 4.5 ha. Ousséni Kindo and his family have been food secure since 1985.

Media attention

Below you’ll find a link to an article in major German newspaper “Welt am Sonntag”, which is about the Great Green Wall, but it also pays attention to farmer managed re-greening in Senegal and in Niger.

In about two months, the New Yorker ( a US weekly with 1.2 million subscribers) will have a substantial article about re-greening. We’ll come back to it when published.

Upcoming events

On May 2, Dr. Dennis Garrity, DG of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in Nairobi, will visit Amsterdam. That will be a new opportunity to discuss how to build linkages between ICRAF’s Evergreen Agriculture initiative and African Re-greening Initiatives.

Next update
The next update will be produced around mid May.

For more information about ARI please contact:

Chris Reij
or Wendelien Tuyp (wam.tuyp@cis.vu.nl)

For more information about the Web Alliance for Re-greening in Africa (W4RA), please contact:
Anna Bon, ICT Consultant (a.bon@cis.vu.nl)