Evergreen Agriculture for the Great Green Wall of Africa
In a recent BBC interview, World Agroforestry Centre scientists agree that the Sahara Desert is expanding and they are committed to support efforts to stop it. Some experts have in the past suggested fuelwood as the driver of the desertification. Others say changing rainfall patterns and intensive land-use practises are responsible for the expansion.
Centre scientists to profit from new databank
Co-author: Judith Olang-Intern at Research Methods Group. As a leading research institution, the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) produces hundreds of publications annually. Each publication synthesizes data from a number of sources mostly from other publications from the Centre. Till now, many researchers have had to manually hunt for important data or use a number of [...]
African agriculture ‘Dirt Poor’ but will inorganic fertilizer make it rich?
By Mike McGahuey The question is not, “should farmers use inorganic or organic fertilizer?” but rather, “How can farmers increase soil organic matter in a cost-effective way in order to recycle nutrients, increase fertilizer-use efficiency and establish the foundation for building and sustaining soil productivity in Africa?” Many agricultural developmental agencies either support the idea [...]
Experts harvest carbon and energy ideas for land regeneration
Many sustainable agricultural practices can complement land regeneration techniques such as FMNR. This was the conclusion by experts at a parallel discussion session that was held during the Beating Famine conference. I had the pleasure of attending a group whose theme was carbon sequestration, water and energy for land regeneration. Chairing the discussion was Stephen [...]
Moving from tilling to conservation
By Catherine Njeri – Communications Assistant, World Vision East African Region Nelson Mwangi never imagined that his water-logged piece of land which is slightly shy of an acre could be transformed into a food generating unit. “It is unimaginable,” says Nelson. “When I bought this piece of land it was completely water-logged. I only used [...]
Farmers managing underground forests to re-vegetate their lands
By Wambui Kamiru In Ethiopia and Malawi farmers are creating canopies of trees from natural regeneration that provide cover for crops growing beneath them, nutrients for the crops, fodder for animals, firewood and other indirect benefits like carbon sequestration. Over 100 million nitrogen-fixing ‘fertilizer trees’ will be planted on Ethiopian farms, according to an announcement [...]
The baffling simplicity of FMNR
When the pioneer of Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), Tony Rinaudo held a workshop in Kijabe, Kenya, the invited participants from the Beating Famine conference were baffled by the simplicity of what they heard and saw. During the FMNR tour, the message was clear and simple.
Farmers in sub-Saharan Africa Regenerate Land to Beat Famine
By Elizabeth Kahurani, ASB Communications At the opening of Beating Famine: Sustainable Food Security through Land Regeneration in a Changing Climate conference in Nairobi, participants heard that land degradation is a major factor responsible for increased frequency of drought spells in sub-Saharan Africa. The drivers are many and varied. For example, it was noted that [...]
Land regeneration for food security
By Mieke Bourne and Yvonne Otieno Environmental degradation can only be reversed by addressing direct and indirect drivers of change. The said drivers of change include public participation in decision-making, cultural factors and technological change. Collectively these factors influence the level of production and consumption of ecosystem services and sustainability of the production base. This [...]
Be a profit to your own land
By Chris Mesiku and Yvonne Otieno The question that was on everyone’s mind as soon as the Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre announced the phrase was how can anyone be a profit to their own land? He was speaking at the opening of the Beating Famine Conference which aimed at addressing food security [...]
Agroforestry reducing farmer vulnerability to climate change in Kenya
Improving developing country farmers‘ income is one of the most effective ways to reduce their vulnerability to climate change. This is one of the conclusions that Henry Neufeldt, climate change scientist at the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi, and Tannis Thorlakson, a graduate student at Harvard reported to the Planet under Pressure meeting participants in the Poster-session “Reducing Subsistence [...]
