Creating an EverGreen Agriculture in Africa

Recent advances & Future opportunities

Dennis GarrityDistinguished Board Research Fellow

World Agroforestry CentreDrylands Ambassador, UN Convention to Combat Desertification

U

Faidherbia albida is commonly found in cereal crop systems in Ethiopia

December 2011: Ethiopian Prime Minister announces national programme to establish 100 million

Faidherbia trees in farmers’ fields

Ngitili: Community-Based Regeneration of agroforestrynow cover about 500,000 ha in 934 villages

Kenya

Tanzania

Zimbabwe

Zambia

Mozambique

Uganda

Rwanda

Malawi

#

900 0 900 Kilometers

N

Major Farming Systems

1. Irrigation

2. Tree crop

3. Forest based

4. Rice-tree crop

5. Highland perennial

6. Highland temperate mixed

7. Root crops

8. Cereal-root crops mixed

9. Maize mixed

11. Agro-pastoral millet/sorghum

12. Pastoral

13. Sparse (arid)

14. Coastal artisanal fishing

Major Lakes

National Boundaries

Major rivers

Regional ProgrammeCountries

10. Large commercial and smallholder

Major farming systems in Subsaharan Africa

Kenyan Farmlands: Bold policy to achieve >10% tree cover on farms through a

National Agroforestry Programme

Types of Agroforestry1. Agroforests: combinations of perennial

species on arable land2. Home gardens with perennials3. Woodlots or farm forests4. Trees on field and farm boundaries5. Sylvopastoral systems: Trees in pastures6. EverGreen Agriculture: Trees

intercropped with field crops7. Productive landscape systems

What is EverGreen Agriculture?

A form of more intensive farming that integrates trees with annual crops.

EverGreen farming systems are often ‘double- story’ systems that feature both perennial and annual species (food crops and trees).

Types of EverGreen Agriculture

1. Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) on cropland

2. Conservation agriculture with trees (CAWT)

3. Conventional agriculture interplanted with trees

National recommendations for maize in Malawi & Zambia: Faidherbia Fertilizer Trees at 100 trees per ha

Central Zambia 2009 Trials

Faidherbia Trial Results in Zambia

Maize yield - zero fertiliser

2008 2009 2010 ----- Tons/ha -------

With Faidherbia 4.1 5.1 5.6

Without Faidherbia 1.3 2.6 2.6________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Number of trials 15 40 40

Small-scale Conservation Farming with Faidherbia in Zambia

Typical onfarm nursery of 125 air-pruned seedlings

DroughtDroughtFlood

P addition resumed

Long-term maize yield without fertilizer in a Gliricidia system

P stopped

Malawi National Agroforestry Food Security Programme

Impact of fertilizer trees on maize yield under farmer management

_______________________________________

Plot management Yield (t/ha)

Maize only 1.30

Maize + fertilizer trees 3.05 ____________________________________________________________

2011 Survey of farms in six districts (Mzimba, Lilongwe, Mulanje, Salima, Thyolo and Machinga)

Classes of Trees in EverGreen Agriculture

• Trees providing direct cash or nutritional benefits

For example:

Timber - Grevillea,

Oil – Shea

Fruits – Uapaca

• Trees providing indirect benefits

For example:

Fertilizer trees – Faidherbia, Gliricidia

Fodder trees -- Caliandra

16 Countries are engaged in EverGreen Agriculture

Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration

Conservation Agriculture with trees

Trees interplanted in conventional tilled cropland

Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration +

Trees interplanted in conventional tilled cropland

EverGreen Agriculture: Opportunities1. Policy, Technical, and Scaling-up Support to

Countries and Communities of Nations that are implementing or launching evergreen agriculture scaling-up programmes

2. Support mainstreaming of evergreen agriculture into the community of UN Organizations and Development Banks, building support for greater impact

UNCCD, IFAD, World Bank, GEF, FAO, UNEP

World Food Program

Indian Evergreen Agriculture Programmebeing launched by the Prime Minister and

Prof M S Swaminathan

Evergreen Agriculture: Opportunities

3. Support mainstreaming of evergreen agriculture into regional and subregional organizations

NEPAD/CAADP/Africa UnionASARECA and CORAF/WECARDCOMESA and ECOWASHorn of Africa Drylands Programme

EverGreen Agriculture: Opportunities4. Help build partnerships with International

NGOs and strengthen their technical capacity to achieve CRP impacts

World VisionOxFamCAREConcern Worldwide

5. Support scientific communities and exchanges to help build research partnerships to tackle key issues and overcome barriers to scaling-up

Take home messages• A fresh low-cost approach to land

regeneration and food security has taken root in Africa, and is spreading across the continent.

• Millions of smallholders are adopting effective low cost land regeneration methods

• Poor households should be targeted over large areas to end hunger in Africa

• Many nations are implementing or launching national scaling-up programmes

• An EverGreen Agriculture Network could accelerate the process of widespread adoption

For More Information

World Agroforestry Centre www.worldagroforestry.org

Evergreen Agriculture page www.evergreenagriculture.net