IRD helped Swazi communities to mitigate drought in Shiselweni and Lubombo provinces through a project, funded by USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. The project increased food security by training farmers in conservation agriculture and livestock development and providing seeds for drought-resistant and soil-improving crops.
Lifting no-till’s profile in the Middle East is the aim of a project undertaken by the International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dryland Areas (ICARDA), partly funded by AusAID.
In Africa, planting trees along with corn in soil that is low in nitrogen can substantially increase corn production without expensive fertilizers. In a decade, the number of small farmers using Fertilizer Tree Systems has ballooned from a few hundred to more than 250,000.
Farming practices that incorporate natural resources conservation will provide sustainable solution to food insecurity in Africa in the face of climate change,declining soil fertility and shrinking size of arable land.
Kenyan farmers could accelerate expansion of the country`s forest cover if they embrace an innovative but cost-effective biological technique to resuscitate tree stumps,roots and seeds in order to reclaim degraded landscapes and natural assets crucial to food security and environmental sustainability.
Participants at the Beating Famine: Sustainable Food Security through Land Regeneration in a Changing Climate conference in Nairobi from 10-13 April have proposed a fifty million US dollars (USD) fund to promote agriculture and end Africa’s cycle of drought and food insecurity.
