Soil Health & Fertility
News & Blogs
Will Africa’s Great Green Wall discourage migration to Europe?
The Great Green Wall is more of a metaphor than an actual wall. It was initially conceived as a physical barrier of trees on the edge of the desert, but over the past few years, it has evolved into a hodge-podge of projects that attempt to restore degraded land and combat desertification. Thanks in part […] Continue Reading
Vanishing Land Fuels ‘Looming Crisis’ Across Africa
Kenya has a land problem. Africa itself has a land problem. The continent seems so vast and the land so open. The awesome sense of space is an inextricable part of the beauty here — the unadulterated vistas, the endless land. But in a way, that is an illusion. Population swells, climate change, soil degradation, erosion, poaching, […] Continue Reading
The Great Green Wall: African Farmers Beat Back Drought and Climate Change with Trees
A quiet, green miracle has been growing in the Sahel. Farmers in the western Sahel have achieved a remarkable success by deploying a secret weapon often overlooked in wealthier places: trees. Not planting trees. Growing them. Chris Reij, a Dutch environmental specialist at VU University Amsterdam who has worked on agricultural issues in the Sahel […] Continue Reading
Trees for food security
Trees for Food Security Project goal is to enhance food security for resource-poor people in rural Eastern Africa through research that supports national programmes to scale up the use of trees within farming systems in Ethiopia and Rwanda and then scale out successes to relevant ago-ecological zones in Uganda and Burundi. Through the project, 5 […] Continue Reading
From small bushes, big trees grow
Over the last decade World Vision and partners have been working very hard to introduce Farmer Manager Natural Regeneration (FMNR) wherever a receptive ear can be found. Uptake generally follows the following pattern: First there is disbelief that this low cost, simple technique can be beneficial. Deep-seated paradigms such as “trees are bad for crops, […] Continue Reading
FMNR in Kenya unearths opportunities for farmers
Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) methods, implemented in the area as part of World Vision’s Mogotio ADP, are opening up new opportunities for communities and allowing farmers to return to their pastoral roots. As part of FMNR methods, thick undergrowth is cleared from around local tree varieties, providing a protective canopy and allowing grass to […] Continue Reading