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.
Participants at an international workshop on agroforestry have identified the need to increase tree density on farm through multi‐stage management techniques with multipurpose tree species, access to best management techniques and the integration of livestock as key scientific and technical challenges for agroforestry in Niger and Sahel. They say there is need to compile and disseminate existing techniques and best practices to famers and users, build their capacities on the implementation of these techniques and develop a research agenda at both national and regional levels. The participant identified the strong political will, coupled with the farmers’ receptiveness to change and new ideas as wonderful opportunities to consolidate and replicate the experience of the regions of Zinder and Maradi to other parts of the Niger and the rest of the Sahel. Recent reports supported by satellite image indicate that more than 4.8 million hectares are now greener in the regions of Zinder and Maradi thanks to farmer managed natural regeneration (FMNR), compared to more than two decades ago.
The workshop brought together specialists from all the Sahelian countries to share and discuss lessons and experiences from all countries in achieving suitably resilient land management systems for the nations of the region. It was also to envision steps to utilize the body of knowledge and experience to develop their own respective approaches to land and landscape transformations adapted to their specific circumstances.
Participants brainstormed and formulated the key elements for a national scaling up strategy for the whole of Niger.
The workshop took place from 17‐19 January 2011 at the Conference Centre in Niamey and held under the theme: Agroforestry as a basis for food security and environmental resilience in Niger and the Sahel. It was organized by the World Agroforestry Centre in collaboration with the Nigerien Ministry of Environment, African Forest Forum and the African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education and presided over by the Nigerien Minister of Water, Environment and Fight Against Desertification, Gen. Abdou Kaza in the presence of three other members of government. The Nigerien Environment Minister says the governments remains worried about the mono‐specific and ageing parklands, and the growing irrational use of trees.
A field trip to the Zinder and Maradi regions in prelude to the workshop enabled participants to see how farmers are planting more Gao trees (Faidherbia albida.) in their farmlands and how they have been able to improve yields of millet, get more fodder and fuel wood. Participants were also able to see how villages have come together to transform non‐cultivable pastoral land to provide hay and fodder and have transformed an almost desert land with valuable trees.
“The Nigerien experience is certainly one of the most compelling success stories, in terms of improving sustainable land management (SLM) in all of sub‐Saharan Africa. The experience of Niger gives us confidence that it is possible to conceive, and achieve a positive transformation in farming livelihoods and environmental rehabilitation across the Sahel, notwithstanding the serious constraints that rural populations are facing in this challenging environment,” said Dr Dennis Garrity, Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre. He believes that farmer managed regeneration has been a very positive phenomenon for Niger and believes much more needs to be done to share these lessons and explore the wider implications.
Dennis reassured stakeholders that the World Agroforestry Centre is “committed to working on a sustained and continuous basis for however long it takes, devoting our energy, resources and science to bringing understanding to this set of practices to a wider landscape, much wider livelihoods for people in the Sahel”. And as Dr Garrity says, “this is at the core of our agenda, the core of our science for people, the core of bringing science to action”.
The Centre has played a significant role in capacity building in Niger. As Dr Abdoulaye Mohamadou, Director General of the Institut National de Recherche Agronomique of Niger testifies, a whole generation of INRAN researchers have been trained through the financial and technical assistance of the World Agroforestry Centre.
From every indication, the participants confirmed through presentations that things are on the right track; agricultural techniques have improved, there is improved food security with more trees on farm, rural exodus has reduced and people have become more aware of the importance of trees to their livelihoods. “The success of the villages in Zinder and Maradi is a model for a much wider application,” added Dr Garrity.
Related News
Nairobi, 26 January 2023 – Climate change is making it harder to grow enough nutritious food, but a unique programme is training African scientists in harnessing a cutting-edge…
Peat Education, why is it Important? The peat ecosystem in the Kubu Raya Regency is a natural resource that plays an important role in people's livelihoods. Unfortunately, peat ecosystems are…