The Partnership to Create an EverGreen Agriculture in Africa
An Update
Dennis GarritySenior Board Research Fellow
World Agroforestry Centre
UN Drylands Ambassador
Perfect Storm of Challenges • Rainfall is becoming more erratic and extreme. • Inorganic fertilizers are increasingly expensive.• Soil fertility is further declining in many regions.• Temperatures are increasing, intensifying crop stress.• Population growth rates remain high and farm sizes are rapidly declining. Farming is expanding into more marginal lands.
National recommendations for maize in Malawi & Zambia: Faidherbia fertilizer trees at 100 trees per ha
Aerial view of a parkland dominated by Faidherbia in Niger
Major agroforestry regions in West Africa and directions of expansion
Malawi National Agroforestry Food Security Programme
December 2011: Ethiopian Prime Minister announces national programme to establish 100 million
Faidherbia trees in farmers’ fields
Kenyan Farmlands: Bold policy to achieve >10% tree cover on farms through a
National Agroforestry Programme
Climate Smart AgricultureTriple Win
• Raise productivity create food security,
• Build resilience to climate shocks: droughts,
hotter temperatures• Make agriculture a strong carbon sink, rather
than being an major emitter
Tree cover on agricultural land by farming system
Wheat production with walnut trees France
Wheat production with Paulownia trees > 8 m acres in China
17 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 Partnership Communities
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
• EverGreen Agriculture can be embedded in many types of sustainable intensification initiatives
• Many nations are creating the policy and institutional environments to favor adoption
• The EverGreen Agriculture Partnership is accelerating the process of widespread adoption
Getting engaged
Evergreen Agriculture Partnershipwww.evergreenagriculture.net
World Agroforestry Centre www.worldagroforestry.org
Email contacts:[email protected]