The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR and World Agroforestry (ICRAF) joined forces in 2019, leveraging a combined 65 years’ experience in research on the role of forests and trees in solving critical global challenges.
Annual Project Meeting in Niger
The IFAD-EC funded project on restoration of degraded drylands in the Sahel and East Africa held its annual meeting in Niger the week of Oct 24th 2017. Hosted by ICRISAT, partners from University of Niamey, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique du Niger (INRAN), the European Commission (EC), World Vision, ICRAF and ICARDA were in attendance. The workshop was launched by ICRISAT Country Director Malick Niango Ba, who highlighted the importance of ongoing land restoration efforts in Niger to reverse land degradation and increase food security in the country.
Objectives of the Annual Project Meeting:
- Co-learning and sharing between the project teams in Kenya, Ethiopia, Mali, and Niger.
- Sharing of data and results from the “Planned Comparisons” that are being implemented on farms in the four countries.
- Identify next steps and way forward on outputs and outcomes of the project.
- Visit to field sites in Niger.
IFAD/EC project team members in Niamey, Niger at the ICRISAT Sahelien Center for the annual project team meeting on the restoration of degraded lands.
During the workshop, interactive sessions focused on the role of evidence in informing land restoration investments, highlighting the need for approaches that take into consideration variations in biophysical, economic and social realities of farmers. Outcome Mapping exercises revealed synergies between development partners and research institutions that can potentially accelerate impact on the ground!
This project aims to reduce food insecurity and improve livelihoods of poor people living in African drylands by restoring degraded land, and returning it to effective and sustainable tree, crop and livestock production, thereby increasing land profitability and landscape and livelihood resilience. Action research (field trialling of restoration approaches) is about field testing of options and enabling interventions across ranges of circumstances through planned comparisons in large N trials. Current efforts on monitoring farmer adoption, adaptation and performance of options and enabling interventions are communicated and shared through nested communities of practice.
The second part of the workshop was a field trip to action sites across Niger. Over 2,500 project farmers are implementing planned comparisons on their farms across four regions in Niger. Farmers are comparing the productivity of millet within FMNR systems under various management treatments.
Farmer in the Dosso region showing his one-year-old Guiera senegalensis on his farm, through the practice of FMNR.
ICRAF Project team in a 7-year old FMNR field in Dosso region of Niger.
We also travelled to the Maradi and Zinder regions to visit farmers and observe their millet harvests across the treatments. In Maradi, INRAN is a key implementing partner and PhD student, Zuunon Christian Serge Felix, showed the results from the first season harvest: microdosing of manure as well as manure + inorganic fertilizer within FMNR systems increases crop yields compared to the control!
Vincent Bado, senior scientist at ICRISAT in the FMNR farmer field in Maradi_Niger.
Abdrahamane Hayo of Zinder showing his millet harvest from plots with microdosing of manure and one-year-old FMNR.
Five-year-old FMNR with cash crop hibiscus in Maradi.
For more information on ICRISAT and a recent article highlighting the use of Bio-reclamation of Degraded Lands (BDL) system
http://news.trust.org/item/20171016160731-gefvl/
Visit the project webpage here for more information:
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