Yearly Archives: 2014

Australian acacias with the answers for a hungry world

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Australian Acacias – Bringing food to the hungryAustralian acacias have evolved to grow in a wide range of environments, including the driest of dry areas.  Due to the lack of large herbivores in Australia as there is in Africa, many of these species have not developed techniques such as seed toxicity, bitterness or elaborate thorns to protect themselves from browsing.  As a result many of these species produce an abundance of edible seeds, that can provide a source of food during the hungry months of the dry seasons.

Over the last 10 years or more, World Vision Australia has been working with partners to test and introduce such species to highly food insecure areas of Niger and Ethiopia, and to develop food products that can supplement traditional ingredients in lean periods.  These endeavours have had increasing success, with new commercial products now available on the market, and new industries emerging, based on these Edible Acacias.

These species are also particularly suited to EverGreen Agriculture systems, bringing shade and organic matter to very marginal cropping land, while also providing a source of fodder and firewood as well as food for farming families

Radio National in Australia, recently covered these discoveries and the work that Food Security and Climate Change team at World Vision Australia are doing to take these successes around the world.

Click here for the full story.

EverGreen Agriculture: Rethinking Modern Farming

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ITW_dennis_garrityOur Chair, Dennis Garrity, had a marvelous interview with Spore Magazine on EverGreen Agriculture, where he detailed how it differs from the common definition of Agroforestry, the benefits of EverGreen Agriculture systems to livelihoods, farms and the broader community and so much more!

The Evergreen Agriculture Partnership was launched in 2009 to build the capacity of smallholder farmers to integrate trees in their cropping systems in order to increase productivity and incomes, while making farming systems more resilient in the context of climate change.  Read more…

Drylands forests and agroforestry systems

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A blog post by Paul Stapleton, Head of Communication at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF).

Agroforestry and sustainable forest management and restoration promise hope for world’s threatened drylands.

“We treat dryland trees as if they were inferior to rainforest trees,” claimed Lars Laestadius of the World Resources Institute, at a packed event taking place on the sidelines of UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Committee on Forestry 2014. “It is as if dryland forest is not a real forest.”

Read more…

Agroforestry, and sustainable forest management and restoration, promise hope for world’s threatened drylands.

“We treat dryland trees as if they were inferior to rainforest trees,” claimed Lars Laestadius of the World Resources Institute, at a packed event taking place on the sidelines of UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Committee on Forestry 2014. “It is as if dryland forest is not a real forest.”

– See more at: http://blog.worldagroforestry.org/index.php/2014/06/27/drylands-forests-and-agroforestry-systems/#sthash.HOscbwTb.dpuf

Agroforestry, and sustainable forest management and restoration, promise hope for world’s threatened drylands.

“We treat dryland trees as if they were inferior to rainforest trees,” claimed Lars Laestadius of the World Resources Institute, at a packed event taking place on the sidelines of UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Committee on Forestry 2014. “It is as if dryland forest is not a real forest.”

– See more at: http://blog.worldagroforestry.org/index.php/2014/06/27/drylands-forests-and-agroforestry-systems/#sthash.HOscbwTb.dpuf

Agroforestry, and sustainable forest management and restoration, promise hope for world’s threatened drylands.

“We treat dryland trees as if they were inferior to rainforest trees,” claimed Lars Laestadius of the World Resources Institute, at a packed event taking place on the sidelines of UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Committee on Forestry 2014. “It is as if dryland forest is not a real forest.”

– See more at: http://blog.worldagroforestry.org/index.php/2014/06/27/drylands-forests-and-agroforestry-systems/#sthash.HOscbwTb.dpuf

African Leaders Urged to Link Landscapes to the People

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The Landscapes for People, Food and Nature in Africa conference kicked off at the World Agroforestry Centre‘s conference hall, at their headquarters in Nairobi with major players calling for harmonization and integration of people living within the landscapes, with respect to the growing population. Challenges were thrown and shared across the hall by players from different environment and agriculture sectors.

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Urbanization Poses Risks to Integrated Landscapes in Kenya

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Kenya is one of the leading countries in Africa to embrace the Integrated Landscape Approach, though experts attending the Landscapes for People, Food and Nature in Africa Conference say that urbanization and the quest for development is a real threat to this progress.

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Land Degradation: A Pathway to Nourishing the Future Is Found in Africa

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In the Sahel region, millions of hectares have been regenerated by smallholder farmers practicing agroforestry, soil and water conservation, soil fertility management, and sustainable forest management. Similar results have been achieved in the Horn of Africa and the Southern Africa region, where the legume tree known as Fadherbia albida is being used for soil fertility management. Most of these technologies and practices are not new, but their application by hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers has been a major factor in creating impact at scale.

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