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 different software to synthesis data for publication. This takes time away from actual research.

As the Centre renews its commitment to generating science-based knowledge about the diverse roles that trees play in agricultural landscapes, it requires processes that will aid publication output. That is the only way it can be a producer, provider and custodian of high value data that will promote the adoption of agroforestry practices.

To this end, ICRAF has created a research data repository using the Dataverse Network hosted at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University. It enables an organized and convenient access to metadata. The main goal of the Dataverse Network is to provide solutions to problems of data sharing through building technologies that enable institutions to reduce the burden of data sharing for researchers and data publishers while providing incentives for them to share their data. This fits seamlessly into the Centre’s ambition to preserve and share all the datasets its researchers produce.

The Centre’s Dataverse will archive primary data used in producing publications as well as survey data that can be supported by published and unpublished but reliable reports. Creators’ envisage that the Centre’s Dataverse will quicken publication and improve research quality which may ultimately advance policies and practices that benefit the poor and the environment.

Dataverse is one of the tools ICRAF’s Research Methods Group (RMG) uses to support science quality. The Group uses Dataverse to maintain research data in the public domain, which allows the Centre’s output to be widely applied and improved.

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 of farmers using more inorganic fertilizer or very little or none at all. Some scientific literature support the use of inorganic fertilizers while others refute the claim.

However, a review of the scientific literature shows a strong synergy between inorganic fertilizers and soil organic matter. It claims the two can work symbiotically to produce and sustain more productive soils,[i] particularly for resource poor smallholders.

African Agriculture: Dirt Poor by Natasha Gilbert shows how problematic the debate has become.

This is particularly the case on weathered soils– upon which most African dryland farmers depend. [ii]  Research out of West Africa by International Fertilizer Development Centre  IFDC, Agricultural Research for Development CIRAD, and others show that fertilizer-use efficiency (FUE) is directly and positively related to soil organic matter content (SOM). [iii] These studies show that in weathered soils with low SOM, a high percentage of nutrients applied in inorganic fertilizer are leached past crops’ root zones or are tied up, effectively increasing the unit price and risk to the farmer. Studies in Kenya by Marenya and Barrett[iv] show that farmers know this. Other studies report that farmers preferentially use fertilizers on soils with relatively higher levels of organic manure. [v]

Approaches such as Integrated Soil Fertility Management, in which inorganic fertilizers are applied in tandem with agricultural practices that increase the soil’s organic matter content, have been shown to increase Fertilizer Use Efficiency (FUE) significantly. [vi]

However, lest we think that the solution is easy, IFDC studies point out that amending soil organic matter content is not easy if it means finding tons of organic matter per hectare and then transporting it to the field, if they can even find the 4 or more tons per hectare that many soils would require annually. [vii]

This underscores the convenient fact that agroforestry annually delivers tons of organic manure to the soil. [viii]  Consequently, the positive effect of the leaf-fall from Faidherbia albida and other field trees is two-fold—it conveys nutrients from the lower part of the soil profile to a crop’s root zone and it builds up soil organic matter, thereby increasing FUE and establishing the foundation for increasing and sustaining soil productivity.

In light of the evidence, 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?”  Part of that answer will be for development institutions to follow the example of many African farmers and to mainstream agroforestry systems within agricultural strategies.

I had the pleasure of attending a group whose theme was carbon sequestration, water and energy for land regeneration. Chairing the discussion was Stephen Twomlow -a climate and environmental specialists from International Fund for Agricultural Development.

World Vision International’s climate specialists, Mr Assefa Tofu and Hailu Tefera initiated discussions by speaking about the Humbo Ethiopia Assisted Natural Regeneration project. They were followed by Dr Amos Wekesa who spoke about Kenya’s Agricultural Carbon Project- Africa’s first soil carbon project. Dr Dorothy Naitore and alphaxard Kimani of the International Small Group Tree Planting Program (TIST) outlined how environment restoration can be a path way to food security. While Ethiopia’s Ms Roza Negash spoke about World Vision’s energy efficient stove project in Ethiopia. Lastly, the World Agroforestry Centre’s Water Management, Programme Coordinator, Malesu Maimbo showcased research advancements  in rainwater harvesting for land regeneration.

The Humbo project

According to Mr Tofu and Mr Tefera s, the Humbo project is restoring indigenous tree species to the Humbo area which is a mountainous region in south western Ethiopia.

They argued that restoring around 2700 hectares of native forest had been shown to increase local income while regenerating the area. In Assefa’s opinion, the project was the first in Ethiopia to use Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) encourages rural communities to take charge of regenerating their own lands by identifying, selecting, and pruning existing tree and shrub root stocks in the soil.

“The Humbo project is made up of seven community cooperative societies managing the regeneration areas. There is also a system in place to monitor the project’s environmental and social issues,” Hailu said.

Aside the regeneration value of the project, the presenters argued that there are other environmental, social and community benefits. They gave the example of how participatory approaches are being used to make sure that carbon revenues from the project are being invested in local infrastructure and food security.

Carbon queries

Interestingly, it seemed the participants were focused more on the effect the carbon venture had on the local households than its land regeneration capacity. They asked “How are you calculating the carbon credits?” and “Were Households negatively impacted by the project?”

Dr Amos Wekesa was well placed to answer questions about carbon credits while speaking about the 20-year experiment – Kenya Agricultural Carbon Project (KACP).

According to Dr Wekesa, “the project was ultimately aiming to test the role carbon finance can play in persuading small-scale farmers to adopt more sustainable practices.”

He explained how the carbon finance project aimed to indirectly sequester carbon by encouraging farmers to adopt Sustainable Agricultural Land Management (SALM) practices on approximately 45,000 ha in the Nyanza and Western Provinces of Kenya.

A number of people in the audience found it uneasy that although it was called a carbon project, its main aim was really increasing yields and productivity with the carbon component only acting as an income supplement to the farmers.

However, as Amos explained, even though it seemed like a diversion, the focus on SALM was very much in line with the carbon project’s goal of sequestration. He explained that unsustainable agricultural practises release large amounts of Carbon through the top soil.

“The project reverses soil loss by increasing yields, which captures carbon in plants and also by keeping carbon in the soil through practises such as zero tilling,” said Dr Wekesa.

Currently, the project has around 300 farmers with approximately 30 households and aims to sequester 60,000 tons of carbon per year. Dr Wekesa says “efforts are underway to bring 50,000 more farmers into KACP, which aims to generate carbon credits for another 20 years.”  Once again, some participants wanted to know the details of how baseline measures of soil carbon were done.

Environmental restoration

The specialists from the International Small Group Tree Planting Program (TIST) addressed the issue of baseline measures while attempting to convince conference attendants that environment restoration is a path way to food security. Dr Dorothy Naitore and Alphaxard Kimani shared about the TIST program which has achieved awards for their accurate monitoring and evaluation of environmental services.

Similar to KACP, they said that their program simultaneously addresses environmental issues and poverty by connecting rural households to the carbon market.  “TIST carbon is bought by C-Quest Capital (CQC),” said Dorothy.

The company is responsible for marketing the carbon emissions which it buys from the program. On occasions, CQC pays in advance for the anticipated carbon credits.

“This serves the purpose of making sure the project has enough finance to continue” said Alphaxard.

The TIST project is comprised of a number of small groups of 12 farmers. According to Dorothy,  the project empowers farmers to carry out very accurate soil baseline measures by using quantifiers to record baseline data, “they are also the ones who choose and plant the trees,”  Said Dorothy.

The farmers’ accuracy has led to their work being “Validated and Verified against the VCS (Verified Carbon Standard) and also by the CCB (Climate, Community & Biodiversity Standards).”  She added.

Asked about the actual instruments the farmers use, Dr Naitore explained that the farmers use handheld computers and GPS to record the location, number, size, and species of live trees. The data farmers collect are then uploaded to a central database using standard mobile phones and can be accessed anytime at www.TIST.org.

Talking of its success, Dorothy claims “the money farmers have been getting from the carbon offset program has been enough to buy them food.” She adds “because of the use of mobile phones, there is the capacity for farmers to be paid carbon credits directly through mobile money services such as MPESA.

Working in India, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Honduras and Nicaragua, TIST also provides means for training farmers on nursery development, tree planting, conservation farming, nutrition, preventative health education and fuel-efficient stoves.

Energy Efficiency

Another highlight of the session was a fuel-efficient stove project run by World Vision.   This was presented by Ms Roza Negash from World Vision who spoke about the project based in Ethiopia.

It seemed like a challenging topic to relate to land regeneration but as Roza outlined, with so many people dependant on firewood in Ethiopia, more efficiency means “less wood chopped and less forest degradation.” Moreover, she explained that “scarcity of firewood had motivated more farmers to use cow dung for burning leading to less fertilizer on farmland”.

World Vision’s pilot stove project uses their very economical Tikikil stoves which have been distributed to around 2,500 rural households in Ethiopia. In the future, the project aims to distribute 40,000 of the stoves.

She urged those present to explore possibilities of introducing the stoves to their own countries too. A quote on her presentation read, “In developing countries, 730 million tonnes of biomass are burned each year, amounting to more than 1 billion tonnes of CO2 in the atmosphere.”

She concluded that aside from land regeneration, the stoves are also improving the health of women and children. “Around 1.6 million people who are mostly women and children die from diseases that come from inhaling smoke from open cooking stoves,” Roza claimed.

All in all, it became clear towards the end of the themed discussion that the success of all the mentioned projects will lead to the improvement of ecosystems and ultimately water availability. Malesu Maimbo who is the Programme Coordinator of the Water Management unit at the World Agroforestry Centre seemed to agree with this.

He said “In terms of water use, the most efficient is the forest then grassland, wetland then crops.”  “Converting forests to cropland means misusing water,” he added. His talk explored ways in which advances in rainwater harvesting can be used for land regeneration.

Malesu explained that different sizes of areas and their use determine how water is managed within them. “A field used for agricultural land requires different watershed management than a landscape undergoing land regeneration.” For these reasons, says Malesu, Centre scientists have been focusing on developing models that can predict the effects of different landscape configurations and identify best watershed management for that configuration. “Our research has found that for storage, Marshlands store the largest amount of water and the least effective being water run-off.”  However for economic reasons, “we encourage run-off because water storage is increasingly expensive”.

Other similar stories.

A delegate tests out a seed planter during a Beating Famine field trip to Rongai, Nakuru

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 to plant on half of it because the rest was completely flooded.”

Nelson is one of the two farmers visited in Nakuru’s Rongai area as part of the Beating Famine Conference which took place on the 10^th to 13^th of April. The event, which was a collaboration between World Vision Australia and the World Agroforestry Centre, focused on addressing food security through land regeneration.

During the field trip, participants were introduced to practical cases of conservation agriculture (CA); a concept that revolves around conserving natural soil resources through minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover combined with crop rotation. This method of farming is aimed at achieving sustainable food production and subsequently improving livelihoods of farmers. Nelson and Augustus Mwaura are beneficiaries of conservation agriculture training in this area, an initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture and World Vision.

Real benefits

Mbugua and his wife Helen were trained on conservation agriculture in 2005 and decided to adopt the practice four years ago. Today, Mbugua is reaping the benefits of adopting this farming method.

“I used to harvest around eight 90-kg bags per acre, but since I adopted CA, I have seen a steady increase in production. My last harvest produced 16 bags of maize.”

Nelson shares the same experience. He narrated how his piece of land only used to produce around four bags of maize per harvest, but that figure has more than quadrupled to 18 bags per harvest.

A reduction in the cost of labour is another benefit that the farmers cited. Since most of the crop residue is left on the land after the harvest to act as soil cover, there is no need to hire extra hands to assist with tilling.

Improved livelihoods

With CA, farmers are able to generate enough crop to feed themselves and their families and have extra to sell. Mbugua, who has six children, proudly shared how his life has significantly improved since he adopted this practice.

“We have been able to multiply our livelihood activities. We have taken up fish farming and added two cows to our herd. We now have five cows,” he explained.

From the cow manure, Mbugua and his wife are generating biogas which they use for cooking.

Slow adoption

Despite the obvious benefits of CA, most farmers in the region have been slow in adopting the practice. There are approximately 10,000 farmers in the Rongai area and less than 10% have implemented CA. The main cause of concern for most farmers is the crop-livestock conflict that CA presents. Farmers with livestock prefer to use the residue from the harvest to feed their animals rather than leaving it on the field as soil cover. Mbugua also notes that unwillingness of men to attend training sessions presents a challenge.

“Most men believe that these meetings are for women, making it extremely difficult for women to implement the practice,”said Mbugua.

The Ministry of Agriculture is working to ensure that gender balance is achieved during training meetings by enlisting male community influencers.

Moving Forward

As the conference participants left Nakuru, a pertinent question remained unanswered. How do we get more farmers to adopt conservation agriculture?

Creating awareness, sharing knowledge and providing support through training emerged as a possible solution during the conference. It was also noted that re-greening would only take place in a meaningful scale if key stakeholders including governments, research institutions, private sector, civil society and others worked with communities to define simple and low cost solutions to a recurring problem.

Currently World Vision has experts working in different parts of the world to promote these re-greening projects. World Vision is already replicating knowledge that allows communities to better themselves through sustainable agricultural practices.

Useful resources

What is Conservation Agriculture With Trees?

Land regeneration for food security

Artice edited by Yvonne Otieno

Gliricidia interrcropped with maize

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 made by Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in December 2011.

What does Meles Zenawi want with 100 million trees? For starters the tree that he selected, Faidherbia albida, fixes nitrogen into the soil, making the soils more fertile. In addition, the tree cycle consists of a phenomenon called reverse phenology.

According to Dr. Dennis Garrity, Distinguished Board Research Fellow at the World Agroforestry Centre through Evergreen Agriculture a fresh, new, low cost approach to increasing food production has taken root in Africa.

Ethiopia’s farmers will be practising agroforestry, that is, growing trees on farms; specifically a type called Evergreen Agriculture. There are three major types of Evergreen Agriculture. The first is farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR) on cropland, conservation agriculture with trees (CAWT) and finally conventional agriculture interplanted with trees.

Last week at the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi, key stakeholders came together to discuss, plan and make actionable lessons learned from farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR) in Niger. Participants comprised farmers, scientists, donors and policymakers. The conversation was generated during a joint conference on #BeatingFamine in the lowland drought-prone areas of Africa organized by World Vision and the World Agroforesty Centre.

Granted that FMNR in the long form is quite a mouthful, it defines a rather interesting and simple technique being used in Niger to recover devastated landscapes. It involves, according to Tony Rinaudo, the FMNR Advisor at World Vision Australia, “reforestation without planting trees.”

How is that possible?

FMNR in Niger involves leaving “underground forests,” the roots of cut down trees, to grow. Then the ones with the straightest stumps are selected and pruned accordingly. Once these stumps are protected, nature takes over and out of what seems a desert, an agroforest parkland can grow – as is the case in Niger, where over 450,000 square hectares have been revived.

FMNR, a type of Evergreen Agriculture is however, not a new way of farming. This practice, which involves the use of indigenous trees, respecting the ideal of the “right tree at the right time in the right place” is part of traditional African farming methods.

Throughout the conference, scientists provided data and analyses that could assist in formulation of policies and used to source for funding from governments and donors, in order to support farmers and improve their livelihoods. There were examples of science supporting practices that farmers traditionally used and that were adapted to the specific conditions of their environment and ecosystem.

Evergreen Agriculture is enjoying success in both Ethiopia and Malawi where farmers are planting their crops under a canopy of trees that provide cover, nutrients, fodder for animals, firewood and other indirect benefits like carbon sequestration.

In his presentation, in the first session of the conference, Garrity emphasized the impact that trees on farms are having in transforming lives and landscapes across Africa.

In Kenya alone, trees on farm account for the growing percentage of tree cover in the country with initial estimates pointing to a growth from 1.7% to over 5% tree cover.

In Ngitili, Tanzania 500,000 hectares of land in 934 villages has been regreened through FMNR and Evergreen Agriculture.

It is not the Faidherbia albida tree alone that promises hope for subsistence farmers who contribute over 90% of Africa’s agricultural production. There are other trees that can be selected based on the needs of the farmer.

Trees that provide cash or nutritional benefits include those for timber such as Grevillea robusta which is commonly found in Central Kenya, trees for oil, like the Shea butternut tree in Tanzania and trees that produce nutritious fruits like Uapaca kirkiana.

Trees also provide indirect benefits and these include, fertilizer trees like Faidherbia albida and Gliricidia sepium. Where livestock is kept on farms, trees can also provide fodder and increase milk production, as in the case of Calliandra calothyrsus.

In Africa, out of a total of 54 countries, 17 are engaged in Evergreen Agriculture and this is the majority of lowland drought-prone areas on the continent.

In closing his presentation, Dennis pointed towards the future of revolution and practice of agriculture on the continent. In calling for collaboration, Dennis suggested the creation of an Evergreen Agriculture Network which would comprise farmers, scientists, donors and policymakers. The network would accelerate the widespread adoption of low cost land regeneration practices such as those mentioned above.

Useful resources

Related blog article – The baffling simplicity of FMNR

CLICK HERE to visit the World Agroforestry Centre Database for information on the management and use of a wide range of tree species which can be used in agroforestry

Paper on Evergreen Agriculture: a robust approach to sustainable foodsecurity in Africa

Watch Photo slide on Evergreen Agriculture

Tony Rinaudo showing an example of a tree shoot to Farmers in Kijabe.

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. That the best thing to do when confronted with a barren land crying out for regreening is to simply leave it alone and just wait for trees to regenerate from remnant  tree root systems. All that the farmer must to do is to nurture the regrowth by pruning it periodically. Regardless of the environment, those advocating FMNR say other than pruning, there is no requirement to add fertilizers or water to the regrowth. They emphasise that farmers are there to simply catalyse a process that is managed by nature.

For a number of those who made the hour trip from Nairobi to Kijabe’s AIC CURE International Children’s Hospital, FMNR seemed too simple to be true. At one stage, to the utter disbelief of some participants, before and after images were showing such big improvements in land health. They were murmuring, can this really be true? Can a land that is terribly battered by desertification, suddenly spring back to life with minimum effort and zero planting? Tony Rinaudo’s team from Niger, Ghana and Ethiopia backed up their success stories with scientific data to satisfy the hardened sceptics in the group. Still, no matter how many images of regenerated lands they saw, some could not believe it was indeed so simple and yet so effective.

Reflecting on the early days of FMNR, Tony recalled that his light bulb moment came after looking at a barren land he was standing on in Niger and noticing patchy weed-like tree shoots covering the land. After carefully studying them, he noticed that these sprouts came up every year after the rains. To his dismay, he also noticed that the local farmers were cutting them for various uses such as animal feed supplements. “Sadly, nobody had realised their worth,” recalls Tony. “Fighting attitudes, practises, beliefs and policies were the hardest things to overcome to enable the locals to profit from the natural regeneration.” Once attitudes began to change, the farmers began realising “charcoal does not bring in as much money as wood that is value added via making tool handles or roofs.”

“With so many different plants germinating after a rainy period, one would imagine that it would be hard to tell which plants are trees and which are garden variety weeds,” some participants remarked. Surprisingly, Tony showed just how simple it is to pick out the trees from the weed. In his particular experience, the roots were identified by looking for sandy trenches left behind after the desert winds of Niger. He explained that trenches occur because of the resistance experienced by the soil when it encounters the tree stumps lying below the ground. Once the areas containing subterranean tree stumps had been discovered, Tony said farmers just waited for the shoots then fenced them off for some time before pruning them using any sharp tool of their choice.

Tony Rinaudo showing the easy hands-on approach to FMNR during the workshop

He says “although there is no one right way of doing FMNR, for best results, practitioners need advice on pruning techniques and advise from tree experts such as at the World Agroforestry Centre.”

Hailu Tefera, who made a presentation on the ‘Humbo Ethiopia Assisted Natural Regeneration project’ said, “When the communities implemented FMNR, within a year, there was increased vegetation cover, reduction in soil erosion, improved microclimate and the community was able to get up to $USD 48 915 of carbon revenue,” adding that “if it was just planting trees, the planting would take more time and more money.”

Some participants who were still in disbelief asked “If FMNR is so simple and yet so effective, why are only few farmers practising it?”

So Bob Winterbottom from the World Resources Institute addressed the preconditions for scaling up the FMNR. He said “the main reason for the adoption of the technique has been largely due to demographic factors such as loss of fallow.” When farmers are desperate and facing land crisis, Bob notes that they were more willing to try FMNR. “The crisis combined with the low cost and practical nature of FMNR quickly appeals to them [smallholder farmers],” said Bob.

If “village institutions are not established and empowered then uptake of any tree planting is low because open access will mean anybody can cut a tree that he/she did not plant”. Bob says a number of studies show “there is a direct correlation between tree ownership and improvement of uptake and improvement of ecosystems.” In his experience, farmers lack the confidence to invest in trees because of challenges to accessing markets and often they have to pay taxes and spent money on permits. He says “They assess the risk and conclude there is limited chance of profiting from tree products so they

don’t participate.” Bob was very convinced that, by reducing barriers to adoption, reinforcing

An exemplar tree shoot showing signs of good FMNR pruning and care during the FMNR tour in Kijabe, Kenya

partnerships and networks and supporting communication and outreach of FMNR, greater number of farmers will take up the practice.

Towards the end of the workshop, those converted to FMNR explained that in some parts of the world such as deserts, the effectiveness of FMNR outweighs tree planting because it involves minimal labour and water resources. They claimed that tree planting is much more laborious because of growing seeds in pots, transferring seedlings from pots to the farm and nursing tree seedlings until they form a root system. Supporters added that farmers cannot guarantee the survival of the seedlings the way they can with FMNR. Conversely, those comfortable with tree planting argued that tree planting on the other hand gives the ability to plant the right tree at the right place for different purposes. They argue that there are still lots of questions to be answered regarding FMNR.

Others who still needed further convincing asked “How can FMNR work in a society where there are no farmers?” They were commenting on the observation that in desert lands where FMNR is most useful, nomads outnumber farmers. They argued that establishing FMNR requires more farmers than nomads but that farmers cannot go to unproductive areas.

At the end of the day, it was clear that regardless of how sceptical or how supportive of FMNR participants were, one thing everybody agreed on was that FMNR is a very useful way of complementing other existing methods of sustainable agriculture.  All participants were grateful that such a cost effective and rapid land regeneration technique can be used immediately by any farmer anywhere in the world.

More information on FMNR.

More information on Beating Famine conference.

Maize grown in Zai-pits in Yatta, one of sites for the field trip during the Beating Famine Conference

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 80% of farmers in Africa own less than 2 hectares of land, making it impossible for them to fallow to allow soil fertility. In addition, the price of fertilizer is high and unaffordable for most farmers. But is there a way out?

The afternoon parallel session on Land regeneration for climate change adaptation offered a glimmer of hope with a showcase of natural resource management (NRM) techniques and innovations that farmers across sub-Saharan Africa are using to regenerate degraded land and enhance food security.

In Ethiopia, communities have been mobilized to implement watershed management and water harvesting systems which have resulted in more than 80% of the farming communities gaining access to reliable water supply for irrigation. Other activities initiated include gully management, natural forest and area enclosure management, new plantation and agroforestry; all of which have yielded significant production levels in a short span of time. The Northern Tigray region of the country is one of the highly drought prone areas facing rapid land degradation and depletion of natural resources. However, NRM practices have turned this semi-arid region into an oasis.

For instance, the area under irrigation in 1996 was estimated to be 11,673 hectares but with NRM, the irrigation coverage area shot up to 125,558 hectares by 2003. The yield also increased up from 67,358 to 18,000,000 quintals within the same period. With slides illustrating photos of the landscape before and after the various interventions, Belete Tafere representing Ethiopia government at the conference said that farmers in Tigray now not only have enough food to eat but they also have a wide variety of nutritional foods to choose from and they even export to other countries.

“The case of Tigray can only prove that, when the effort and work is great, the land is honest and paying!” He added.

In Kenya, World Vision is working with farmers to implement technologies that reinforce water harvesting in the Arid and Semi-arid Lands (ASALs). These include Subsoilers which break the hardpan formed as a result of frequent oxen ploughing. Breaking the hardpan improves water infiltration into the soil for use by crops. Others are on farm water reservoirs that harvest run-off water; Zai-pits and sunken beds -well fertilized holes with deeply loosened soil for intense farming with high yields from a small land area.

These, combined with organic farming that involves planting of drought tolerant food crops such as Sorghum, Millets, Cowpeas, Pigeon peas and Green-grams are helping to regenerate land in the Kenya ASALs. Lawrence Kiguro, who is working on the project also talked of other mitigation measures being undertaken in the area such as the introduction of energy saving cooking stoves.

It is also important to note that the Kenya government has put in place policy measures and strategies to help recover forest cover.

“Currently, the implementation of the 10% rule for forest cover in all agricultural land is underway,” said Ben Chikamai of the Kenya Forest Research Institute (KEFRI) during the session.

One of the KEFRI projects is based at the arid Northeastern part of the country where the institute is working with farmers to promote agroforestry and a good example of this are farms where cowpeas are intercropped with Melia Volkensii tree.

Pastoralism is an area often ignored but critical in efforts to adapt and mitigate climate change. According to Constance Neely of the World Agroforestry Center, grazing lands make up 40% of Kenya’s total land area and therein lies a huge potential to mitigate climate change as dry land grazing systems under sustainable grazing practices can sequester 0.05 – 0.7 Tonnes of carbon per hectare per year.

“Good grassland management practices are those that also improve soil carbon sequestration. Carbon sequestration is inhibited by loss of groundcover, bare fallows, burning and continuous grazing,” Constance noted.

“Biomass burning from the savannas contributes 42% of gross carbon dioxide to global emissions, ” She added.

To help pastoralists cope with daunting climatic and natural resource challenges, Susan Karimi of World Vision explained the importance of giving communities control over the management of existing resources, providing them with alternative livelihoods and extending rigorous research, extension services for pastoral systems which include providing these communities with fodder varieties.

Towards the end of the session, discussions among participants highlighted the need for putting in place strong government policies and extensive networks that ensure best practices are scaled up to national and regional levels.

Click link for more on fodder crops and how agroforestry is helping to improve the lives of small scale dairy farmers in East Africa.

See related articles

Upcoming Beating Famine Conference set to encourage Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration

Be a profit in your own land

Land regeneration for food security 

Edited by Yvonne Otieno

An example of integrated agroforestry land use systems in Mwanza, Tanzania

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 was said by participants at the Beating Famine Conference who were speaking during a panel discussion that sought to address the issue of land regeneration for food security. During this panel session, different presenters from World Vision and the World Agroforestry Centre made presentations on approaches that had worked in different areas.

The major limiting factor to food security in Africa may be based on land health. Other impacts of shocks on food production such as weeds and drought can be increased by building resistance into the systems. This was according to Douglas Brown, Director, Agriculture and Food Security, World Vision International who made a presentation titled The foundations for resilient livelihoods: soils, savings and trees.

He observed how the systems around livelihoods of smallholder farmers are complex and interlinked with   many aspects from labour availability, land resources and food consumption variations.

“By understanding the system you can effect change and for World Vision the main areas that have been identified for investment as a foundation for resilient livelihoods are soils, savings and trees,” he said. He proposed that while there are many other important factors in land regeneration, if these three factors are not considered, then building resilience in the system would be a great challenge.

“These three areas of investment are activities that smallholder farmers can undertake on their own farms that contribute to resilience in a positive way,” he added.

Picking up on the issue of challenges, the second presentation focused on how Landcare programmes are working to address some of the institutional challenges that have led to land degradation within East Africa.

According to Joseph Tanui from World Agroforestry Centre, Landcare has worked in the region using an action research approach and has linked individuals and groups to address issues at landscape level while ensuring that individuals still benefit.

“We present Landcare as an ethic and a philosophy that enables individuals and communities to approach agriculture in a nurturing way,” said Tanui.

“Landcare often uses a community identified need as an entry point activity. It seeks to develop innovative platforms to represent a number of groups to influence policy and negotiate by-law creation on behalf of the community,” he added.

Tanui explained that Landcare works through principles that ensure participation, ownership and demand-driven development and use of multi-institutional strategies. Additionally it involves understanding and managing trade-offs with the community, enhancing the role of local government and building on past experiences.

Tanui’s presentation focused on Grassroots participation in land regeneration through the Landcare approach. Landcare is defined as a movement of autonomous farmer-led organizations; it is an extension approach that inexpensively disseminates agroforestry and other technologies as a set of appropriate land management practices.

Some preliminary results indicate that improved water and soil conservation and knowledge management and access was reported by those participating in the Landcare programme. A table was presented demonstrating how Landcare programmes have been funded and launched in different countries in unique ways. Of particular interest is the case of South Africa where the programme was mainstreamed into the Ministry of Agriculture compared to East Africa where a combination of donor, the World Agroforestry Centre and NGO support laid the foundation for Landcare activities.

Rowland Bunch, Agroecologist  (and author of Two Ears of Corn: A Guide to People–Centered   Agricultural) Improvement changed the focus of the session to the subject of soil by making a presentation on Green manure: soil recuperation at zero cost. According to him, experience from Central America in the 1970s and 80s has shown dramatic improvement of the soil using mulch and then green manure. Composting had a large impact however, for cereal production the cost of its production exceeded its benefits. Green manure cover crops for this purpose include trees and bushes and can be cut down at any stage of growth and are often left on the soil surface to be broken down by natural processes including worms and termites.

Rowland explained how hundreds of thousands of farmers in Latin America are using a variety of green mulch systems and incorporating zero tillage once the soil biomass is sufficient. Green manure in addition to improving soil biomass can control weeds, improve fertility and can be used as food. For many farmers there are edible leaves or beans that are consumed before the green manure crop is incorporated into the soil. He also noted that within the semi-arid and arid areas the green mulch system is almost exclusively dominated by woody perennials. He recommended that since green manure crops do not occupy space that the farmer uses for crops, they must not incur cash costs and they must not increase labour costs.

Triple bottom line of Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) was the subject of the fourth presentation made by Rowan Reid, Project Manager- FMNR,  World Vision Australia and Rob Francis Coordinator, Australian Master TreeGrower Program. According to the presenters, the FMNR technology is considered simple and effective, and since it conveys knowledge and not materials, it is affordable. They explained that though there is little data and impact, what is available suggests about a 70% increase in yield and farmer accounts.

“Farmers don’t need an economist, if the technology matches their immediate needs, capability and resources; perception of risks and aspirations then it is common sense,” said Rowan.

FMNR takes away the risk of planting trees and losing them, a good entry-point and advantages for scaling up. FMNR is a good idea, the question now is how do you introduce a simple idea and scale it up?

The final presentation during this session was by Jonathan Muriuki who focused on Evergreen Agriculture in East Africa. In his presentation, he described how the highlands of East Africa are characterized by steep slopes with erosion threats while the drylands are generally overgrazed and degraded. The area is subject to conventional farming practices with intensive tillage that destroys the biological and ecological integrity of the soil system.

One way to help regeneration was through Conservation Agriculture. Conservation Agriculture involves the application of three principles – permanent soil cover, minimum soil disturbance and crop rotations and associations.  Conservation Agriculture with Trees  (CAWT) is one of the three forms of Evergreen Agriculture. The other forms are regeneration practice/method and trees in conventional agriculture. Evergreen Agriculture is a type of agroforestry in which trees are intercropped with field crops.

According to Jonathan, when trees are integrated into the Conservation Agriculture system, one sees increased benefit in the three principles. Tree roots and soil fauna take over the tillage function, the increased biomass from trees protects the soil and feeds the soil biota and reduce weeds, pests and diseases.

However, three things; right germplasm, proper practices and enabling environment are needed to scale up CAWT. There are plans to implement three Evergreen Agriculture projects in the East Africa region. One of the projects will be implemented in Machakos in Kenya and Mbarali in Tanzania. This project will focus on characterization of typologies, germplasm distribution systems, approaches for extension, demonstration and participatory trials and knowledge management and communication.

Other parallel sessions focused on land regeneration for climate change adaption and  Carbon sequestration, sustainable water & water energy for land regeneration.

Useful Resources

Biographies of experts at the Beating Famine Conference

Paper by Joseph Tanui, Diane Russell, Delia Catacutan, and Thomas Yatich Landcare in East Africa

A short history of FMNR by Tony Rinuado

Watch videos Landcare in Kenya, Uganda and  Tanzania

The Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre, Dr Tony Simons being interviewed during the Beating Famine conference

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 through land regeneration. His phrase captured the idea of helping farmers to be a profit to their own land by equipping them with sustainable means of farming. Indeed as Rio+20 draws near, sustainable agriculture is a phrase that is also on the mind of many policymakers, funding bodies and government representatives. A growing number of stakeholders are realizing the crucial role trees play within the new climate smart agriculture.

Dr. Charles Owubah, Regional Leader of World Vision East Africa, Reverend Tim Costello, CEO World Vision Australia and Dr. Tony Simons, World Agroforestry Centre’s Director General, who were keynote speakers during the opening session of the conference, which was jointly sponsored by World Vision Australia and World Agroforestry Centre, all touched on the importance of eliminating famine through sustainable agriculture.

The conference whose theme was Beating Famine; Sustainable Food Security through Land Regeneration in a Changing Climate focused on practical, low-cost and proven techniques to reverse land degradation and deforestation, lift incomes, adapt to and mitigate against climate change and ultimately prevent famine.

The first speaker began and ended with the message that a rapid and cost effective way of regenerating African landscapes is needed. “When forests go, the water goes carrying with it soil fertility leading to famine and drought,” said Dr. Owubah.

He explained how World Vision implemented Africa’s first community-based forest regeneration where it helped plant 1 million trees in Ethiopia. He was emphasizing the important role World Vision plays in keeping trees on landscapes by using a number of techniques including the Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) process.

During his opening address, Tony Simons added to this by emphasizing the importance of beating famine by putting in place sustainable systems such as agroforestry that can help increase food productivity. He underscored the challenges needed to achieve this goal by stating that, “In the next 40 years, we have to produce as much food as we produced in the last thousands of years.”

“Most of this food will have to be produced by smallholder farmers who are mostly women,” Tony added. He also made it clear that producing so much food requires a concerted effort from all stakeholders, stressing the importance of working together to find lasting solutions to famine.

“We must accept and recognize that governments, civil society organizations and research institutions need to work together to achieve the goal of beating hunger,” he said.  Tony was alluding to the importance of the Centre’s partnership with World Vision and other organizations in the realization of sustainable food security solutions.

Dr. Tony Simons outlined six ways through which the Centre contributes to meeting the challenge of food security. These include production of the needed tools and appropriate farming methods, providing robust evidence to drive policy and to support private investors willing to invest in sustainable agriculture, capacity building, proof of application through scaling up and playing the role of convening and facilitating different stakeholders.

“We must provide actionable knowledge that NGOs, farmers and the private sector can use,” said Tony. He revealed that over its many years of research specialization into trees on farms, the Centre is now actively pursuing what he called the “proof of application” process. The process explores ways to upscale proven research findings from small demonstration farms to larger farms comprising millions of farmers with millions of hectares.

Tony also outlined how evergreen agriculture comprising FMNR and other techniques can transform landscapes and buffer smallholder farmers against droughts and famine.

Dr. Wilson Songa, Agricultural Secretary, from the Ministry of Agriculture in Kenya stated how only 17% of total land in Kenya is viable for agriculture. To increase this percentage, he noted that, “We need to encourage the private sector to participate more in getting farmers to achieve the proposed 10% tree cover in agricultural landscapes through agroforestry developments.”

Dr. Songa expressed his support for what the Centre was doing saying, “Farmers need more indigenous tree species to plant but for them, seedlings are hard to find. Research organizations like the World Agroforestry Centre help to make appropriate seedlings available.”

A similar point was raised by Reverend Tim Costello who said, “FMNR gives hope to those on the verge of despair and hope opens ways of finding new synergies.” He was calling on conference participants to be proactive in lobbying policymakers and funding bodies to support sustainable food security through low-cost and high-impact land regeneration.

In his parting shot, Tony rallied conference participants to work together to come up with viable ways of beating famine. “All deliberations should aim to lead to actionable conclusions at the end of the conference.” Playing on the biblical phrase found in John 4:44, he concluded that, “At the end of the day, the hope is for rural farmers to be profits to their own lands.”

The three-day conference continues with presentations by high-level delegates, as well field trips and demonstrations. Participants will also be encouraged to develop action plans for their country or region.

A demonstration of Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) will be conducted by FMNR pioneer Tony Rinaudo on Friday, April 13^th in Kijabe, Kenya. FMNR has helped make great advances for the food security and economic sustainability of farmers in eight countries across Africa and three in Asia.

Click here for more on the role trees play in tackling the triple challenge of mitigation, adaptation and food security

Subsistence farmers are among the most vulnerable to climate variability. Agroforestry, or the intentional use of trees in the cropping system, is a potential strategy to help farmers reduce their vulnerability. Working with farmers in Kenya, Thorlakson and Neufeldt found that agroforestry provided benefits by allowing them to earn extra money. Initially they may lose some income as they plant the trees, but the positive effects come later. Agroforestry also clearly reduced the time they spent on collecting fuel wood or the need to purchase it.

“We found that households in western Kenya are not currently coping with climate-related hazards in a sustainable way,” said Neufeldt.  Farmers are aware of this, and believe that the most effective way to adapt to climate-related shocks is through improving their general standard of living.

“We evaluated agroforestry as one possible means of improving farmers’ well-being,” he continued. “ By comparing farmers engaged in an agroforestry project with a control group of neighbouring farmers, we found that involvement in agroforestry improves household’s general standard of living via improvements in farm productivity, off-farm incomes, wealth and the environmental conditions of their farm.”

Farmers in Lower Nyando said that agroforestry provided benefits by allowing them to earn extra money. Agroforestry also clearly reduced the time they spent on collecting fuel wood or the need to purchase it.

The work suggested some clear and constructive ways to move forward. Pairing agriculture and agroforestry training would reduce the time between investment in improved management and returns. The loss in income establishing agroforestry is often too high for smallholders to tolerate.

Improving market accessibility would enhance income-generating opportunities provided by agroforestry, and farmer education and visits would increase adoption of agroforestry techniques. Farmers perceive profound management changes as risky and other farmers‘ success is the best way to overcome  their concerns.

Involving farmers in the project-planning process would ensure that development efforts target what is most relevant and effective in local communities. “We concluded that agroforestry techniques can be used as an effective part of a broader development strategy to help subsistence-level farmers reduce their vulnerability to climate-related hazards.”

Read the policy brief Making climate-smart agriculture work for the poor (PDF) for more details.