Enhancing agro-forestry landscapes and food security in drylands through Farmer-Managed

Natural Regeneration: A case study of the Sahel Region

Mahamane Larwanou

African Forest Forum

m.larwanou@cgiar.org

www.afforum.org

Impacts of Droughts

Actions including FMNR!

REFORESTATION WITHOUT PLANTING TREES?

Niger – denuded farmland. Note – even here

there are tree stumps -

Previously barren landscape. In year one, the pruned trees are growing quickly. Notice that this farmer has also begun leaving crop residues on the field. This will also reduce wind speed and temperature, reduce evaporation and increase organic matter going back into the soil.

FMNR Definition: systematic regeneration of trees

from living tree stumps, roots and seeds.

1. Select desired tree stumps.

2. For each stump, choose number of (tallest and

straightest) stems to leave.

3. Remove unwanted stems and side branches.

4. Remove emerging new stems and prune side

branches from time to time.

1975 2005

Landscape transformation

Tree density in Maradi and Zinder regions

• 4.8 million hectares are greener today primarily because of FMNR

Driving factors

i) Droughts of 1968, 1973 and 1984 devastated tree cover but produced critical lessons (discovery and testing ideas (State, NGOs, projects);

ii) Increase of population, i.e. pressure on wood and non wood forest products;

iii) Institutional and policy changes;

Policy reforms informed by field experiences

– Maradi Declaration of 1984

– Rural Code Change, 1993

– Forest Code Change, 2004.

iv) Local initiatives in ToF management;

v) Emergence of champions

- Local communities;

- Researchers and developers;

- Development projects and NGOs, etc.

Tree density and tree ownership

“Trees became so important to have a good harvest; trees represent the granary

“We now have many village committees to manage the environment”

Grain production according to tree density and age

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

0 50 100 150 200

Tree density

Gra

in p

rod

uc

tio

n (

kg

)

0-3

3-6.

>6

**Millet grown in a mixed crop system so total kg/ha would have to include yields of other crops

….TO IMPROVE SOIL FERTILITY AND

INCREASE CROP YIELDS.

Grain surplus Kantché District (Zinder/Niger). 350,000 inhabitants; high on-farm tree densities

• 2007 + 21,230 ton

• 2008 + 36,838 ton

• 2009 + 28,122 ton

• 2010 + 64,208 ton

• 2011 + 13,818 ton

Source: National Committee for the Prevention and Management of

Food Crises and FEWS

Quoted by: Yamba and sambo (2012)

Village Degree of vulnerability

Kouka Samou

Doukoum Doukoum

Kirou Haussa

Zedrawa

Daré

Least vulnerable

200 40

140 125

135

Medium Vulnerable

110

37

120

70

63

Very vulnerable

80 83

26 40

100

Extremely Vulnerable

104 50

116 80

45

AVERAGE ANNUAL HOUSEHOLD INCOME

FROM NEW AGROFORESTRY PARKLAND (US $)

Source: Yamba and Sambo (2012)

Take home messages 1. ‘Driving forces' of change, both environmental and socio-

economic, are highly complex and can be influenced to transform landscapes and people’s lives;

2. FMNR gave rural communities compelling reasons to organize, negotiate, and set tree resources management rules;

3. Smallholders used “Rule of Law” to uphold rights over trees;

4. Rural livelihood/quality of life (of rural Sahelian people) depends strongly on “availability of natural resources” rather than financial capital;

5. FMNR gives vulnerable people control over the means to move out of poverty and up the economic ladder;

6. FMNR contributes to increased food security and reduced vulnerability to climate change.

Recommendations

1. Build Understanding on how poor people optimize new knowledge in a context of competing demands and understand associated risks and consequences for their livelihoods;

2. Address and improve 'household viability' and other structural constraints that lead to poverty alleviation, including income generation, employment access, conflict, equitable sharing of ecosystem goods and services;

3. Carry out an inventory of similar initiatives in Africa to learn from experience and build on existing work and interventions e.g. SLM;

4. Capitalize the enormous value of early work to create opportunities for learning and exchange of experience and assure that these links still work;

5. Use the enormous existing energy and resources to promote and extend locally tailored interventions which strengthen resilience and rights across the Sahel;

6. Empower local communities to develop their programmes and action plans in ToF management;

7. Develop well defined and concerted initiatives on management of parklands at all levels (e.g. African re-greening initiative);

8. Develop research actions on policy issues regarding tree tenure and sustainable management of parklands;

9. Reinforce cooperation among actors: exchange of experiences and know-how on SLM for poverty alleviation and environmental protection and resilience and for scaling up the successful cases.

ISAIAH 35: 1

THE DESERT WILL REJOICE AND

WILL BE FLOWERING LIKE A ROSE

FUTURE GENERATION

THANK YOU