Yearly Archives: 2016

Empowering women through trees

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Project team and reviewers posing for a group photo with Elgon Trust Women Group. Photo Catherine Muthuri

A number of women in Manafwa District, Uganda, sought to establish a group that would create a joint income generating platform through nurseries, dubbed Elgon Trust Women group. The group started with 8 members and currently has 22members. Challenges arising from harsh weather conditions (mainly having to carry water from a steam to water the seedlings during the dry season) and lack of support from husbands forced some members to opt out. However, knowing the benefits of trees in curbing soil erosion, which was a prevalent challenge in the area
, encouraged the remaining members to stay on, doing the best they could. The group also allows the enrolment (hires) of young men who mainly assist in fetching water to water the seedlings during the dry season. Carolyne, the group leader, highlighted that the Trees for Food Security (T4FS) Project reversed the named challenges through supply of quality seeds and trainings on potting, nursery management, and suitable tree species based on their needs and record keeping.

Members now enjoy diverse benefits such as increased income from the sale of seedlings which enables them to provide loans amongst themselves as well as offer support when one is bereaved or ailing. The group’s success is also hinged on recommendations from the District Forestry Officer, and support from community based organizations, created opportunities to supply seedlings to local Non-Governmental Organizations. The group therefore gets to supply huge orders of between 1,000 – 5,000 seedlings. Furthermore, the group acquires quality seeds and seedlings through the project, wheelbarrows, nails, watering cans and polythene tubes, keeping them afloat at all times.

Members also noted they sell firewood or poles to other farmers and earn some income to takwwe them through a number of days. The poles are usually in demand after harvesting periods as they are used for drying beans. Moreover, the women get to make charcoal from the trees they have planted on their farms and earn income through the surplus. Members stated that they no longer have to necessarily rely on their husbands to meet all their household needs such as paying school fees for their children.

Operating like a cooperative, members are encouraged to acquire extra income for their own use, by collecting seeds on behalf of the group as well as potting coffee in plantations nearby. The youngest member of the group highlighted that he can now pay his own school fees from income he has accrued over the months, by collecting seeds for the members. For a while, his parents could not afford to cater for his fees and that is when he considered joining the group, having noted the benefits members enjoy.

Women are also able to sustaiwwen themselves, not borrowing money from their husbands all the time as was the norm. “Courtesy of the Project, all members are smartly dressed, have neat hair and still have some income left to cater for personal needs. Moreover, since its women’s role to fetch firewood, it’s much easier now as we have them readily available in our farms hence don’t have to travel distances for the same,” stated Carolyne.

Transformation: When good science and innovation meet

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“It’s better to have a team of good farmers than good researchers, in terms of impacts.” These were Tony Bartlett’s remarks during the Trees for Food Security (T4FS) Project review in Uganda. Richard Namunyu, a lead farmer of the Project wowed reviewers with his vast knowledge of trees and farming, as well as the extensive work carried out on his 10 acre farm. Through a tour around the farm, reviewers got to sample most of the participatory trials he hosted such as fodder banks, tree diversity, trees for shade and food, firewood, boundary planting as well as the sap flow biophysical experiments.

During the tour Namunyu was keen to highlight the benefits and income earning opportunities opened up by the project including fodder, firewood, charcoal, mulch, high crop and milk yields, fruits, supportive function for Matoke and climbing plants like yams, knowledge on tree planting, management and nursery development.  “I am earning more through this project than I used to before. I now earn UGX 200,000 from each acre of beans in each harvesting period, and through sale of timber, I get an average annual income of UGX 3 million. My 6 children have never been sent home for lack of fees or study materials,”stated Namunyu.

These benefits are incurred through various tree and shrub species on his farm, some of which were introduced by the project, including: Calliandra Calothyrsus, Maesopsis eminii,Neolamarckia cadamba, Eucalyptus grandis, Mahogany, Cordia africana, Melia volkensii, Neem, Alnus acuminata and Leucaena leucocephala. “The project has issued seedlings in 2 phases, 500 in each, and in the past year, I have planted 1,500 trees on my farm. It’s also my policy to plant ten (10) more trees once I cut one for charcoal production.”

Discussions with Butta sub-county farmers participating in the project's long-term trials. Photo May MuthuriIn addition to the planting recommendations made by the project, Namunyu created diverse innovations to not only suit his needs but also double his benefits. The scientific recommendation as to the appropriate height to cut Calliandra is 50cm, but Namunyu choses to cut at 20cm, noting his innovation increases chances of other branches and leaves to sprout, retain the lower leaves and ensure the tree doesn’t dry up. Mr Namunyu also noted that he has introduced another innovation to his farm which entails reducing the spacing between the trees, applying a space of 1ft between the Calliandra seedlings, prior to the recommended spacing of 2ft by the Project. This innovation came about when he realized wider spacing of Calliandra translates to a bigger stump and roots hence a challenge in uprooting the shrubs when he needed to utilise the space. . However, with a smaller stump courtesy of the smaller spacing, once the shrub is mature, it’s easy to uproot and no extra labour or machinery is required for the same, thus cutting on costs.

In the case of Melia volkensii, Namunyu opts to space at 2 metres (instead of 4m) since it is a fast growing tree and he will require it for various uses therefore when pruning he wouldn’t want the process to interfere with the next tree. Namunyu also noted that he opted to plant some Calliandra trees vertically (along his farm) instead of horizontally so as to form a hedge and clearly define the entrance and boundaries to his homestead and farm. Catherine Muthuri, T4FS project leader, noted appropriate synchrony between trees and coffee on Namunyu’s farm, which he attributed to trimming of the top coffee branches to avoid them getting too close to those of the tree. This ensured each gets ample nutrients and light hence minimising competition.

Namunyu highlighted that farmers usually plant trees without prior knowledge of how they behave towards other crops and the environment as a whole. Through his brief experience with the sap flow instruments, Namunyu explained the tree water uptake, and leafing phenology (shedding and flushing) of the tree solely depends on seasons, knowledge he didn’t have before. “It sure has been a challenge hosting the sap flow instruments as some farmers considered the trees with the instruments as bad. It has therefore taken me time to go around homesteads and LLCs, informing them of the benefits of the instruments, which will guide them in future while purchasing and planting trees, on the suitability of each species on the farm,” noted Namunyu. Through this, farmers around the area have been keen to learn more from him as well as take part in project activities.

“I am very proud of the project and that is why I don’t want it to just be about the activities and recommendations highlighted, but also about a learning and exploring opportunity for my family and I, before the Project comes to an end. I want to enjoy the process as well as reap maximum benefits, and that is why I have tweaked some of the ideas given. Farmers in this area tell me I have more than enough, why work so hard? I however say, I am not satisfied, and since I have the energy and land, there is no reason to stop,” justified Namunyu.

Starting small, thinking big: seven ingredients that help smart agriculture thrive

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Rural farmers in many parts of the world are already using ‘smart’ agricultural practices like intercropping, agroforestry and rainwater harvesting.

But what if those practices benefitted the livelihoods and landscapes of millions more?

Climate-smart agriculture, the raft of sustainable agricultural practices designed to help farmers overcome hunger, adapt to climate change, manage their natural resources and curb rising temperatures, is a hot development theme worldwide. But its success will be measured not only in local benefits, but its ability to adapt and spread as resource demands grow and global challenges intensify.

Getting to scale

Scaling up climate-smart agriculture means replicating, spreading or adapting technologies and practices that secure more food on less land and in more sustainable ways.

This is more complex than scaling up straightforward technological innovations, such as new grain varieties, because it requires much more profound change. Integrating appropriate trees into complex agricultural systems, for example, involves training farmers, developing new supply chains, modifying current farming practices and then managing trees for competition with crops.

According to the World Bank, those who live in rural areas – a staggering 70% of the world’s poor – will be most vulnerable to more variable and extreme weather. They often lack the governance, assets and technical capacity to innovate and adapt.

Scaling up climate-smart agriculture takes not only the right practices, technologies or models, but the right conditions to make it happen, which may include incentives and insurance schemes for farmers, consumer demand and of course, the political will from their governments.

Building on a series of workshops and eight of the latest climate-smart agriculture case studies from South Asia, a new World Agroforestry Centre working paper, Scaling up climate-smart agriculture: lessons learned from South Asia and pathways for success, identifies seven key ‘ingredients’ and several pathways for successfully scaling up climate-smart agriculture.

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While raising crop yields, African thorn tree Faidherbia albida captures large amounts of carbon

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A large, old Faidherbia albida tree with a metre-plus diameter stored the equivalent of the CO2 emitted by 8 cars over one year. These useful trees play an important role in carbon sequestration, a critical part of the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change.

People in many areas of Africa gain numerous benefits from the leaves, branches and trunks of the dryland thorn tree Faidherbia albida.

The tree’s spreading roots conserve the soil from wind and water erosion. Its roots fix atmospheric nitrogen which then passes to the leaves, which fertilize the topsoil when they fall, leading to higher crop yields. Faidherbia’s wide canopy provides shade as well as leaves and pods that serve as nutritious fodder for sheep and goats. And for people living around lakes, the trunk has light yet strong wood perfect for traditional dugout fishing canoes. The multipurpose tree is ideal for evergreen agriculture.

And now, carbon credits could join the list of benefits Faidherbia albida brings to communities.

Research by World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and partners, reported in a recent article in the journal Agroforestry Systems, has come up with formulae that allow us, for the first time, to accurately calculate the ‘total above-ground biomass’ of F. albida. This value indicates the amount of carbon sequestered by the tree. Working out the carbon stored in trees is the starting point for entering the global carbon credits markets, in which payments are based on the amount of the carbon in standing trees.

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A game changer: learning and adapting to climate change in Ghana

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Can a boardgame simulate reality in how farmers adapt to a changing climate as well as inspire social learning?

Scientists from the University of Bonn, Germany and Kwara State University, Nigeria have used a role playing game to gain useful insights into strategies used by farmers in semiarid Ghana to cope with increasing climatic variability.

They say the ‘grazing game’ they developed gives farmers an opportunity to observe how land-use decisions impact on their livelihoods. It has also given researchers a greater understanding of the rich ecological knowledge held by farmers.

A study on the effectiveness of the grazing game, in both identifying coping strategies in response to climate variability and as a learning tool among both researchers and farmers, has recently been published in the scientific journal, Ecology and Society.

The scientists found that the game was able to identify a wide range of coping strategies, such as selling livestock during the dry season, using crop residues to feed cows to maintain grass availability in other areas, seeking government assistance and engaging in alternative livelihood activities.

In terms of learning, the game helped farmers to recognize the consequences of their actions, better understand processes and interactions, and collectively examine issues and responses. It also aided researchers’ understanding of local systems and perspectives.

“With climate change predicted to have a significant impact on grassland areas in West Africa, local people need to adapt to increasing uncertainty and may not be able to rely on traditional methods of predicting rainfall,” explains Grace Villamor, senior researcher and lead author of the study.

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Using Agroforestry to save the planet

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Using Agroforestry to Save the PlanetAgroforestry—the use of trees in farming—benefits both farmers and the environment.

According to a recent report by Biodiversity International, the Center for International Forestry Research, the World Agroforestry Centre, and Charles Sturt University, forests contribute to the livelihoods of more than 1.6 billion people. Yet, 30 percent of the world’s forests are used primarily for the production of wood products.

Agroforestry is defined as the integration of trees and shrubs into crop and animal farming systems. These practices can help landowners diversify products and create social, economic, and environmental benefits.

Trees and forests provide more than just food—they can enhance soils, protect biodiversity, preserve precious water supplies, and even help reduce the impacts of climate change.

According to the World Agroforestry Centre, agroforestry is uniquely suited to address the need to grow more food and biomass for fuel while sustainably managing agricultural landscapes for the critical ecosystem services they provide.

Agroforestry efforts in Niger, for example, have resulted in 200 million trees being planted on over 5 million hectares of farmland. This has impacted an estimated 2.5 million people by improving soil, increasing yields, and creating resilience against climate change.

This week, Food Tank is highlighting 16 organizations and projects that are using agroforestry principles to bring benefits to farmers, communities, and the environment.

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