Land restoration and avoiding further degradation can be a key pathway to achieving food security and exiting poverty for some of the most vulnerable people living in Africa’s drylands. Achieving the UN’s SDGs requires that successful restoration efforts reach larger numbers of farmers and hectares over the coming decade. However, a key constraint to scaling is the variation in ecological, economic, sociological and institutional contexts. Applying a research in development approach allows projects to reach larger number of farmers through engagement with key development partners, including IFAD Country Loan Programmes, NGOs, EC Country Programmes, as well as government, universities and the private sector, influencing the way they interact with one another and smallholder farmers. In addition to this engagement, the collection of data and evidence on the effectiveness of land restoration options is critical for informing current and future land restoration initiatives.

The IFAD/EC-funded project “Restoration of degraded land for food security and poverty reduction in East Africa and the Sahel: taking successes in land restoration to scale” aims to improve food security and 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.

Since 2016, over 2000 farmers have implemented land restoration options on their farms in three counties in eastern Kenya as part of the Drylands Development Programme (DryDev) and the IFAD/EC-funded Land Restoration projects. Households engaged in these activities were profiled using a standard household survey, conducted by trained enumerators and community facilitators who are residents of each subcounty (see map below). Community facilitators communicate regularly with (and between) the implementing partners including World Vision Kenya, CARITAS, and ADRA, the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), local governments, and the farmers to encourage co-learning and collaboration.

_{Figure 1: Location of the surveys by subcounty.}

^{Figure 2: Community facilitators and ICRAF team members during the Community of Practice co-learning event on Urasmus and Anastasia’s farm in January 2018 in Machakos, Kenya.}

As part of the initial household survey, trees on each farm were identified and counted and farmers were asked about the use of the tree species. Results of the survey showed that  farms had, on average, about 159 trees on farm, across the three counties. Given the average farm size (Kitui: 3.3 ± 2.4 acres; Machakos: 2.6 ± 7.4 acres; and Makueni: 4.6 ± 6.4 acres), we calculated an overall average tree density for the three counties of about 98 trees per acre, but with high variation between farms, as shown in Table One.

The ten most common tree species on farm were Mangifera indica (mango), followed by Senna siamea, Melia Vokensii, Carica papaya (papaya), Azadirachta indica (neem), Terminalia kilimandscharica, Acacia spp, Croton megalocarpus, Grevillea robusta, and Moringa oleifera.

Table 1: Average number of trees on farm and associated statistics.

The results of the surveys also showed that farmers in eastern Kenya plant and/or keep trees in a wide range of niches in their farm, including within the home compound, in woodlots, along farm boundaries, and within the cropped fields. Farmers shared their reasons for keeping trees on their farms, which included for fruit, fuelwood, timber, fencing and fodder, for the provision of shade, as well as to improve soil fertility and control erosion.

Given the diverse benefits of trees, during the community action planning within the DryDev project, farmers expressed a desire to learn how to improve the survival rates of the tree seedlings they plant. Specifically, farmers wanted to know which size planting hole is best for which tree species and whether or not mulch and/or composted manure application improves tree seedling survival. To answer these questions, farmers were trained in setting up planned comparisons on their farms, which allow for the comparison of options within farm, between farms, and between communities. These planned comparisons also fill information gaps regarding the effectiveness of land restoration options, which is critical evidence for the DryDev and IFAD/EC land restoration projects.

In December 2016 and again in December 2017, DryDev implementing partners distributed thousands of tree seedlings to over 2000 households. From there, farmers proceeded to implement the planned comparisons on their farm by planting tree seedlings in different sized planting holes and applying the mulch or manure treatments. The IFAD/EC Land Restoration project developed an electronic survey and trained enumerators and community facilitators on monitoring the survival of the tree seedlings planted as part of the planned comparisons.  

In June 2017 enumerators monitored the first round of the tree planting planned comparisons. Results showed higher survival with the application of manure across all species, while mulch had little effect on survival. Overall, Mangifera indica (mango) had the highest survival rate of the six different species planted. This year farmers are harvesting papayas from the planted seedlings and the moringa trees are already over three meters tall (see below photos).

^{Figure 3: Farmer with the papaya tree planted as part of the December 2016 planned comparison in Waita, Kitui county.}

^{Figure 4: Farmer Elisabeth with the moringa tree planted as part of the December 2016 planned comparison in Yatta, Machakos county.}

^{Figure 5: Mango seedling planted in the large hole size with the addition of mulch in December 2016 in Lower Yatta.}

In July 2018, over 25 enumerators and six community facilitators from the six subcounties (Mwala and Yatta in Machakos County; Waita and Lower Yatta in Kitui County; and Kalawa and Mtito Andei in Makueni County) were trained again by Christine Magaju of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) on electronic data capture. Monitoring of the second round of the tree planting planned comparison is underway, where eight different tree species were planted in various sized planting holes and with and without mulch and manure treatments. These data are critical for understanding what works where, for whom and will help inform current and future land restoration efforts.

^{Figure 6: Caroline Mbuvi from Waita measures the height of a tree seedling planted as part of the of the December 2017 tree planting planned comparison.}

^{Figure 7: Enumerators in Lower Yatta practice using electronic data entry on their smart phones to streamline data collection and monitoring efforts.}

The IFAD/EC Land Restoration project is developing innovative ways to achieve scaling through adopting a co-learning approach that accelerates development impact by embedding research in development initiatives (for example, using research methods to document and monitor the experiences of the farmers and then adapt the technologies to local context). Explore the land restoration options being implemented with partners in Mali, Niger, Ethiopia and Kenya here and see below.

^{Figure 8: Land Restoration options being implemented across the four countries.}