Promoting evergreen agriculture in the drylands of eastern and western Africa 1
Jeremias Mowo2a, Phil Dobie2, Kiros Hadgu3 and Antoine Kalinganire4
2
World Agroforestry Centre, Box 30677 – 00100 Nairobi, Kenya
3
Mekelle University, Box 231Mekelle, Ethiopia
4
World Agroforestry Centre, West and Central Africa Region, BP 320 Bamako, Mali
a
Corresponding author ([email protected])
Abstract
The drylands in Africa which occupy about 65 % of the total land mass are increasingly under
pressure as population growth outstrips food production. Unsustainable natural resource
management practices are leading to severe land degradation threatening human, plant, livestock
and wildlife survival. Evergreen agriculture, a strategy that combines the best of conservation
agriculture and agroforestry is seen as a viable option in reversing the declining trend in agroecosystem productivity in the drylands of Africa while contributing to increasing nature
conservation and resilience to climate change. The paper reviews the major challenges
confronting the drylands of eastern and western Africa and, using case studies, shows that it is
possible to raise the potential of these areas in supporting the increasing human and animal
population through promoting evergreen agriculture practices.
Key words: Land degradation, Agroforestry, Conservation agriculture, Eastern and Western
Africa
1
Paper prepared for the Third International Conference on Drylands, Deserts and Desertification, Ben
Gurion University, Israel, 8 – 11 November, 2010
1
INTRODUCTION
Drylands include arid and semiarid areas where annual evapotranspiration exceeds precipitation.
According to the Food and Agricultural Organization, rainfall in these areas range from 0 - 300
mm for arid areas and 300 - 600 mm for the semi-arid areas (FAO 1987) and growing periods are
short ranging from 1 - 74 days for the arid areas and 75 - 119 days for the semi arid areas.
Rainfall patterns are unpredictable and are subject to great fluctuations making these areas
unsuitable for rainfed cultivation. Globally, drylands occupy 41 % of the earth’s land surface and
are home to 35 percent of its population (Mortimore, 2009). Drylands are more extensive in
Africa where they occupy about 1.96 billion hectares in 25 countries, representing 65% of the
continental landmass (Jama and Zeila, 2005). In sub-Sahara Africa, drylands cover about 40 %
of the region and are home to more than 206 million people or 36 % of the total population.
Poverty levels are extremely high and the average Human Development Index of countries in
sub-Sahara Africa with large dryland areas is as low as 0.35
(worldagroforestry.org/wadrylands/faq.html).
Drylands in eastern Africa (Figure 1) covers close to
81 % of the total land mass (or some 5. 083 million
km2) with significant occurrences in Kenya (75%),
Ethiopia and Tanzania (50 %) and Uganda (30 %).
Rainfall ranges from 200 to 700 mm. The major
production systems are pure pastoralism, agropastoralism, rainfed agriculture and to a lesser extent,
irrigated agriculture at small scale. Sorghum and
millet are the dominant cereals. The human, livestock
and wild life populations in the drylands of eastern
Africa is increasing fast exerting a lot of pressure on
the on land. More than half of the human population
is highly impoverished and living below the poverty
line.
The Sahel, Arabic term for transition, lies just south
of the Sahara Desert and extends approximately 3,900 km across Africa from the Atlantic coast
in the west to the Red Sea in the east. It is approximately bounded between 10o and 20o N and
has an annual rainfall between May and August of 200 mm in the north to 600 mm in the south.
The dryland belt in Western Africa (The West Africa Sahel – Figure 2) covers an area of about
700,000 km2 across Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger and contains over 40
million people representing half of the total population of these countries (reference needed).
Excessive, droughts are common in an area characterized by a 9-month dry season. Climate
change, soil erosion, unsustainable farming practices, excessive tillage, overgrazing and
deforestation including loss of biodiversity, have led to severe land degradation and
desertification (Leakey et al. 2005). Poverty levels and population growth rates (more than 3%
2
per annum) are high, the later exceeding the
annual food production growth rates which
stand at 2% per annum. The majority of the
population (85 %) practice subsistence
agriculture (Hiernaux and Turner, 2002) and
the dominant land use system and the main
provider of food, nutrition, income, and
environmental services is the traditional
parkland system (integrated crop-tree-livestock
systems).
Agriculture-poverty–environment
linkages are particularly important in the Sahel
because of the sensitive environments, severe
land degradation and extreme poverty levels.
Why the increasing focus on the drylands?
Increasing land degradation and deterioration of the drylands led to significant attention directed
to these areas by international bodies in an effort to meet the Millennium Development Goals
notably, the MDG 1 on eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, and the MDG 7 on ensuring
environmental sustainability. For example, on August 16th 2010 the United Nations General
Assembly declared the United Nations Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification
which run from January 2010 to December 2020. The decade recognizes the persistent
challenges posed by desertification, land degradation and drought despite the on-going global
efforts to combat these; and the slow progress in poverty reduction and food security in the
drylands. Consequently, the decade will be devoted to raising awareness about the importance of
sustainable land management and therefore promote action that will protect the drylands.
Among the important reasons for increased attention to drylands in eastern and western Africa
are:
• The high population growth rates in the drylands outstripping food production leading to a
global food insecurity,
• Increasing demand for fuelwood, fodder, timber, other non-timber products and
environmental services,
• Increasing trends in desertification threatening the survival of biodiversity including agrobiodiversity,
• High vulnerability of drylands to degradation from human impacts and climate change,
• Increasing incidences of excessive drought and floods leading to death and/or damage of
people and animals, and
• Increasing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions due to poor drylands management leading to
global warming and the related consequences.
3
It is important to note that among the major conflicts in sub Saharan Africa have centered on
competition for scarce resources and most of these conflicts have occurred in the drylands of the
regions as people and livestock search for water, pasture and food.
4
Improving drylands productivity in eastern and western Africa
Agricultural production in the drylands of eastern and western Africa is limited to a few areas
notably those that can benefit from irrigation. It is widely recognized that better management of
the drylands will enable them contribute more to the economies of these countries. Substantial
resources have been invested in the development and dissemination of technologies suitable for
the drylands although this potential is yet to be fully exploited because of various factors. These
include, (i) lack of support to grassroots institutions and communities in utilizing available
technologies, (ii) limited social and financial capital of local rural communities (iii) limited
incentives to invest in the drylands, (iii) poor market and transport infrastructure and (iv)
Ineffective development policies and practices pursued by governments targeting the
management of drylands.
Experience from pilot interventions by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and partners in
both eastern and western Africa have shown that with correct policy and institutional support,
blending science based innovations with existing local knowledge and experience and
involvement of all stakeholders including rural farmers, it is possible to enhance the
sustainability of the drylands for current and future generations.
Three case studies from eastern and western Africa are used to illustrate the possibility of turning
the drylands into viable ecosystems capable of feeding increasing human and livestock
populations and meeting humanities’ other needs. The common feature on these case studies is
the role trees can play in rejuvenating degraded drylands which forms the basis for the ICRAF
initiative on evergreen agriculture. Defined as a form of conservation farming that integrates
trees with annual food crops (Garrity et al., 2010), evergreen agriculture ensures that there is
green cover on the land throughout the year therefore enhancing essential ecosystem services.
Because it integrates trees and agriculture, evergreen agriculture is essentially a form of
agroforestry with the potential to deliver several benefits associated with the incorporation of
trees in the farming systems. These include maintaining vegetative soil cover, nutrient supply
through biological nitrogen fixation and nutrient cycling, suppression of insect pests and weeds,
enhancing soil structure and water infiltration and provision of food, fuel and fiber. Other
benefits include supply of medicinal herbs for both humans and livestock, supply of fodder and
shade, carbon sequestration and conservation of above and below ground biodiversity. To a
significant extent dryland communities rely on tree products as one of their major source of
income. The three case studies are discussed in details below followed by an analysis of lessons
learnt and how these experiences can be scaled out to benefit more landscapes and peoples in the
drylands.
The Ngitili in Shinyanga Tanzania: Community based management of grazing land:
Shinyanga Region in western Tanzania is largely semi arid where the major economic activity is
agro-pastoralism. Annual rainfall averages 700mm and the length of a mid season drought
occurring between January and February greatly determines crop performance in a given season.
In the 1920’s the colonial government paid farmers to cut down large areas of woodland to
control tsetse fly, a vector for trypanosomiasis which is responsible for heavy losses in cattle
5
population and causing sleeping sickness in people. This turned an area that was once covered
with miombo and acacia woodlands into almost a desert (Pye-Smith, 2010) (Figure 3). Increasing
population of both human and livestock have put enormous pressure on land resources.
Agricultural production has been characterized by very little conservation being practiced,
limited use of fertilizers and poor livestock management. By the 1980s Shinyanga had become
‘the desert of Tanzania’ and the rural population was confronted with declining crop and
livestock yields, long distances in search of fuel wood and water, and increasing levels of
poverty and food insecurity.
Figure 3: The extent of environmental degradation in 1986 (left) and the situation today after
interventions (right) in Shinyanga
Traditionally, farmers in Shinyanga had a system of land management called Ngitili which is a
practice of protecting a given area of land from grazing and other activities to enable it provide
fodder during the dry season. Such protection include fencing off an area and enacting by-laws
against their use for grazing. A crop fallow left undisturbed for several years to regenerate
naturally is also referred to as Ngitili. Moreover, to some people Ngitili must have a cover of
scrub or trees. Woodlots whereby the trees are not harvested are also referred to as ngitili (Pyesmith, 2010). Ngitili can be privately or communally owned by the village government or locally
based institutions.
Concerned about the increasing land degradation with early signs of desertification in Shinyanga,
the Government commissioned the Shinyanga Soil Conservation Programme (Hifadhi Ardhi
Shinyanga - HASHI) from the mid 1980s to 2004 to reverse the worrying trend. The beginning
was not very productive as implementers continued the top down approach common with
government-led development projects. The coming in of ICRAF as one of the partners led to the
revisiting of the traditional system of land management – Ngitili.
The experience of ICRAF on participatory agroforestry research for development complemented
with the introduction of a wide range of agroforestry technologies ranging from planting of
woodlots and fodder banks and use of nitrogen fixing trees increased the interest of the local
leadership and communities in seriously embarking on rehabilitating the land. This resulted into
one of the most successful land rehabilitation in Tanzania and the eastern Africa region which
boasts of more than 500,000 hectares under Ngitili from 600 hectares when the project started
(Pye-Smith, 2010). Farmers are reporting several benefits arising from the revival of the Ngitili
6
system including increased fodder availability as reflected in improvement in milk production
from 7 litres to 11 litres per cow per day, reduced time to collecting firewood and fetching water,
increased availability of building materials, improved biodiversity and increased incomes form
sales of different tree products. Extensive ground cover in the enclosed area helps in
ameliorating and reducing soil erosion by wind and water. Through the Ngitili HASHI has been
able to improve rural livelihoods and restored degraded environments. What is required now is to
scale up this experience to bring more degraded areas in similar environments within and outside
of Tanzania to productive and sustainable use.
The HASHI project has been a success which is attributed to six main factors. These are (i) the
involvement of key stakeholders mainly the local and national government machinery and
research partners, (ii) working with grassroots organizations, (iii) recognizing the role of
traditional knowledge and experience, (iv) blending this knowledge with conventional
agroforestry technologies, (v) capacity building of farmers and facilitators on protection of and
improvement of Ngitili, and (vi) the use of different avenues to promote community participation
and encouraging them to use agroforestry technologies. It can be said that Ngitili is a good
successful example of an indigenous agro-silvo-pastoral technology for land rehabilitation.
According to Mugasha et al. (1996) it forms a basis for the development of sustainable agrosilvo-pastoral agroforestry in a dryland areas.
Mixed land-use system in West Pokot,Kenya
West Pokot District located in the North Rift of Kenya has both arid and semi arid
characteristics. The district receives an average annual rainfall of about 200mm in the east
increasing to over 500mm in the northwestern highlands. The rainfall is characterized by small
total amounts, high seasonal and bimodal distribution, and high temporal and spatial variability
between seasons and years. Annual mean temperatures range from 26 to 38 oC (Jaetzold and
Schmidt, 1983). The Pokot community practices a mixed land-use system, with pure pastoralism
being practiced in the drier zones and crop production in the relatively better watered key
production areas.
Increasing human and animal population, poor natural resource management and diminishing
natural resource base has led severe land degradation, desertification and recurring conflicts
which sometimes are fatal. Agroforestry was introduced in West Pokot by an international nongovernmental organization called Vi-Agroforestry, in a project whose focus was increased food
and energy security as well as wealth creation among rural communities through application of
agroforestry science. The project introduced the idea of enclosures to rehabilitate the degraded
land. The idea was not well received by the community due to earlier experience where they had
lost land to the state when the government introduced the same idea. To overcome this hurdle the
project established demonstrations in institutions including schools and hospitals. Land
rehabilitation involving soil conservation and planting of trees was considered an important
option to reverse the widespread loss of tree biodiversity. Other accompanying technologies that
were promoted in the project area include apiculture and soil fertility improvement. Through the
demonstrations the Pokot communities were impressed by the idea of enclosure and some
approached the project for help in starting up their own enclosures (Figure 4).
7
Figure 4: West Pokot in the Rift valley, Kenya, showing an enclosure (right).
The project emphasizes on farmers and pastoralists participation through use of such extension
tools like participatory rural appraisals (PRA) and community action plans (CAP). The
community takes a central role in identifying their constraints, prioritizing felt needs and
devising a community action plan complete with schedules and frameworks of the proposed
interventions. This way, the community owns the process and is fully committed to addressing
prioritized constraints in an effort to improve their livelihoods and landscapes.
To ensure proper coverage of project areas, Vi Agroforestry adopted the concept of ‘Area of
Concentration Approach’ (AoCA). In this approach, an extension agent is stationed in an area
where the agent works with 200 - 350 farmers and/or pastoralists for up to five years, depending
on the community enthusiasm. This way the capacity of the community in sustaining
agroforestry technologies and practices is enhanced. Benefits derived from enclosure areas in the
project area include the evolution of individualization of land tenure, reduced nomadism,
improved animal health and increased enrolment in schools. The success of Vi-Agroforestry in
West Pokot is attributed to its policy of cooperation with the people and local development
partners.
Farmer managed natural regeneration in Niger
Farmers in the Sahelian zone of Niger have demonstrated that sustainable natural resource
management to support increasing human and livestock populations is possible using a
combination of local knowledge and proven scientific interventions provided there are
appropriate institutional and policy support. For many generations farmers in the Sahel
maintained a traditional land-use system called agroforestry parklands which are characterized
by the deliberate retention of trees on cultivated land (Boffa, 1999). The trees contribute to soil
fertility improvement through nutrient recycling and biological nitrogen fixation, and are
important in water conservation and environmental protection. Provision of shade to humans and
livestock, and protection of field crops from windblown sand are other important functions of
trees in the Sahel. Aware of these benefits farmers in the Sahelian Niger had always managed
their agricultural parklands and village woodlands to produce continuous harvests of trees for
centuries (Boffa, 1999). Poor policies characterized by the enforcement of the Sahelian Forest
laws whereby farmers required permission to cut or even prune their own trees led to poor
management and hence serious degradation of the parklands. Alarmed by the level of
8
degradation of the parklands, the Niger Government relaxed these policies to allow farmers to
own and use their trees. This led to a significant change in the management of the parklands
characterized by millions of hectares being covered by trees.
The agroforestry parklands in the Sahel is a result of a deliberate effort by farmers to allow the
seeds of useful tree species to regenerate naturally in their fields, a practice known as assisted
natural regeneration (ANR) or farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR) (Figure 5).
Livestock, birds and wildlife play an important role in the distribution of seeds of useful trees
while the living roots and stumps of trees give new shoots and stems which are a source of new
tree stock. One of the important naturally regenerated tree species in the Sahel is Faidherbia
albida (Figure 6).
Figure 5: Assisted natural regeneration of indigenous trees in the Sahel
Figure 6: Faidherbia albida on farmlands in Niger
9
Farmers in Niger exploit this leguminous tree species given its role in soil fertility improvement
(Barnes and Fagg, 2003) and provision of fodder and other products. Its characteristics of
‘reverse phenology’ whereby the trees shed their leaves during the rainy season mean that there
is little competition with associated food crops (Garrity et al., 2010). Moreover, it is deep rooted
and hence access nutrient and water at lower levels while leaving the upper levels for the short
rooted food crops. Given the relaxed forest laws in Niger, it is estimated that there are close to
4.8 million hectares of Faidherbia-dominated agro-ecosystems generated through FMNR in the
Maradi and Zinder Regions alone (Reij et al., 2009).
The management of the regenerated trees is simple and flexible. It involves the pruning of
selected stems to promote their growth and removing competing stems. Food crops mainly
sorghum and millet are planted in between the trees. Most development projects now emphasize
the use of ANR as a strategy for re-greening the agro-ecosystems of southern Niger. Apart from
Faidherbia albida other tree species regenerating naturally and protected by farmers in Niger
include Combretum glutinosum, Guiera senegalensis, Piliostigma reticulatum, Bauhinia
rufescens, Adansonia digitata and Prosopis africana.
Numerous benefits have been reported by farmers due to ANR of trees in Niger (Larwanou et al.,
2006; Dramé and Berti, 2008). These include improved crop yields, protection of crops from dry
winds, protection of land from wind and water erosion and provision of fodder for livestock
during the dry season. Others are increased availability of firewood, fruit, medicinal products,
and other non-forest products (NFL) vital for rural poor communities. An important observation
is the improvement in food security resulting from improved incomes from sales of fodder,
fuelwood,timber and other NFLs. Yield increases of 49 to 153 % in millet production and 36 to
169 % in sorghum production have been reported (Garrity et al., 2010).
Drivers of successful rehabilitation of degraded drylands
Sustainable management of the drylands in eastern and western Africa is now more important
than ever before given the extent of degradation, increasing populations, the fragile nature of
drylands ecosystems and the reality that the people inhabiting them are more vulnerable to
environmental and global change. Fortunately, experience from the two regions show that the
degradation of drylands can be reversed and turn millions of hectares into productive lands for
the increasing human, livestock and wildlife populations.
The three case studies narrated above provide important lessons pointing to the fact that practical
management of the drylands can be achieved. An important driver that led to interventions,
which were embraced by the local communities and supported by policy makers was the
increasing pressure on land due to human and livestock population and sub-sequent impacts on
the status of the natural resources and livelihoods which was an important pre-cursor for
conflicts over diminishing natural resource base. Once the problem was appreciated by all
stakeholders, appropriate strategies were needed to bring about change in the way natural
resources are managed in the drylands. The experiences in Tanzania, Kenya and Niger point to
the following additional factors which were responsible for the success observed.
Full involvement of local communities and their leadership: For introduced interventions to have
any impact there must be committed, sustained and proactive participation of the local
10
community in the project cycle (Blay, 2002). This can only be achieved if the farmers and their
institutions are recognized as important players in the project. Participatory approaches therefore
become important from the time of identification of constraints, to prioritizing them and devising
practical work plans to address them. According to Blay (2002) the attitudes, behavior and
perceptions of the local people must be in line with the principles of the rehabilitation
programme and they have to accept and internalize that, in the long run the introduced changes
will be to their advantage. This might seem difficult to achieve especially with natural resource
management projects which take long to yield benefits. Strategies must be put in place to ensure
that there are early short-term benefits which could be in the form of materials (e.g. seedlings) or
training (e.g. study tours, exchange visits) (Mowo et al., 2010). To ensure continued interest of
the local communities the project will have to work very closely with farmers’ organizations and
the local leadership. Such an approach attracts farmers interests in that their institutions are given
due recognition. The interesting aspect about the Ngitili system in Tanzania, for example, is that
it is a farmer-led and farmer-managed initiative that has evolved after years of traditional grazing
management.
Recognition of indigenous knowledge and experience: Past interventions have relied on
conventional science overlooking the fact that local communities having lived in their
environment for a long time have accumulated ample knowledge that has been passed from one
generation to another. Success of introduced projects will be greatly influenced by the extent to
which local knowledge and experience are incorporated in the project cycle.
Involvement of other stakeholders and strategic partners: Experience has shown that failure to
involve all stakeholders’ right from the beginning of the project can lead to project failure.
Recently, there has been an increasing tendency to forge public - private partnership in the
development and implementation of projects. Rehabilitation of drylands involving evergreen
agriculture strategies might attract the private sector in supplying of tree germplasm and in the
marketing of agroforestry products. Identifying strategic partners is very important for the
success of a project. In Shinyanga, Tanzania, the HASHI program failed to take roots at the
beginning because the project lacked participatory strategies that would exploit synergies and
complementarities from other actors. The invitation of ICRAF to participate in the project
brought along skills and experience in participator agroforestry which were necessary in
identifying and exploiting the indigenous Ngitili experience. This was an important factor in the
success of the project in Shinyanga.
A clear understanding of dryland ecosystems: Successful implementation of a land rehabilitation
project in the drylands require a comprehensive understanding of the interconnectedness,
peculiarities and complexities of dryland ecosystems, especially dryland forests and woodlands
(Blay, 2002) and knowledge on existing land uses and factors leading to degradation. Such
understanding requires that projects involve multiple disciplines from different sectors to tackle
the complex natural resource management problems in the drylands. The current state of dryland
degradation stems from lack of sufficient understanding of the complexity and sensitivity of
dryland ecosystems occasioned by past sectoral approaches to the problem.
11
Appropriate policies and strong institutional support: Inappropriate policies in sub-Saharan
Africa have always been blamed for poor natural resource management. In most cases the
affected communities or their representatives are not adequately contacted hence overlooking the
specific environment and interests of the communities. The Niger experience is not unique to
that country but fortunately such policies are being relaxed in most parts of Africa. Institutional
support to local communities is vital for successful management of the drylands. Local rural
communities should have access to available technologies, backed up by effective research and
extension infrastructure. Availability of effective market infrastructure is an important factor in
promoting sustainable drylands management. As farmers adopt introduced interventions,
productivity is bound to improve as well as the diversity of farm products which will require
markets for their disposal. Agricultural markets offer an important pull effect which has the
potential to stimulate investment in sustainable agricultural production.
Finally, the potential role dryland agroforestry has in mitigating the impacts of changing
ecological circumstances and worsening economic environments cannot be overemphasized.
Agroforestry systems are more stable than mono-cropping or livestock rearing alone (Jama and
Zeila, 2005). Most food crops are annual and on harvesting leave the soil bare. With trees on
cropping lands an evergreen landscape is ensured leading to continuous soil cover which is an
important factor in protecting soils from erosion and crusting. An evergreen agriculture system
will apart from providing the numerous benefits discussed in this paper has also the potential to
contribute to increased C-sequestration, reduction in the contribution of agriculture to
greenhouse gas emissions much blamed on conventional agriculture, and increased agroecosystem resilience to the adverse effects of climate change and variability.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the paper reviews the major challenges which the drylands of eastern and western
Africa are facing, among others, land degradation, alarmingly increasing human population,
fragile ecosystem, unreliable rainfall pattern, climate change and variability. Substantiated by
case studies, the paper also reviews success stories of sustainable management of drylands in
eastern and western Africa where evergreen agriculture provides multiple livelihoods and
landscape benefits including food, carbon sequestration and conservation of above and below
ground biodiversity. The experiences from the three case studies in Tanzania, Kenya and Niger
proved to be successful because of the practical management of the drylands initiated by the
local communities and supported by policy makers. The drivers identified for the success of the
rehabilitated drylands include full involvement of local communities and their leadership,
recognition of indigenous knowledge and experience, involvement of other stakeholders and
strategic partners, a clear understanding of dryland ecosystems, and appropriate policies and
strong institutional support.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to acknowledge the Israel Government and ICRAF for co-sponsoring the
participation of the senior author to the Third International Conference on Drylands, Deserts and
Desertification at Ben Gurion University, Israel (8 – 11 November, 2010), ICRAF colleagues for
12
reviewing the manuscripts and Rose Onyango (Administrative Officer – ICRAF Eastern Africa)
for logistical support.
References
Barnes, R.D. and Fagg, C.W. 2003. Faidherbia albida. Monograph and Annotated Bibliography.
Tropical Forests papers No 41, Oxford Forestry Institute, Oxford, UK. 281p.
Blay D. 2002. Rehabilitation of degraded lands in humid zones of Africa. A report prepared
for IUFRO Global Forest Information Service (GFIS) project.
Boffa, J.M. 1999. Agroforestry Parklands in sub-Saharan Africa. FAO Conservation Guide 34,
Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome.
Dramé, Y.A. and Berti F. 2008. Les enjeux socio-économiques autour de l’agroforesterie
villageoise à Aguié (Niger). Tropicultura 26:141–149
Garrity, D.P., Akinnifesi, F.K., Ajayi, O.C., Sileshi, G., Mowo, J.G., Kalinganire, A., Larwanou,
M. and Bayala, J. 2010: Evergreen Agriculture: a robust approach to sustainable food security in
Africa. Food Security 2: 197 - 214
Hiernaux, P. and M. D. Turner. 2002. The influence of farmer and pastoralist management
practices on desertification process in the Sahel. In: Global Desertification: Do Humans Cause
Deserts?, edited by J. F. Reynolds and D. M. Stafford Smith, 2002, p. 135-148. Dahlem
University Press, Berlin/Germany.
Jaetzold, R. and Schmidt, H. 1983. Farm Management Handbook of Kenya – Natural Conditions
and Farm Management Information. Vol II/B Central Kenya (Rift Valley and Central Provinces).
Ministry of Agriculture in cooperation with German Agriculture Team (GAT) of the German
Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ)
Jama, B. and Zeila, A. 2005. Agroforestry in the drylands of eastern Africa: a call to action.
ICRAF Working Paper – no. 1. Nairobi: World Agroforestry Centre.
Larwanou, M., Abdoulaye, M. and Reij, C. 2006. Etude de la régénération naturelle assistée dans
la Région de Zinder (Niger): Une première exploration d’un phénomène spectaculaire.
Washington, DC:International resources Group for the US Agency for International
development. 385p.
Le Houérou, H.N. 1996 Climate change, drought and desertification. Journal of Arid
Environments, 34, 133 – 185
13
Leakey, R.R.B., Tchoundjeu, Z, Schreckenberg, K., Schackleton, S., Schackleton, C.M. 2005.
Agroforestry tree products (AFTPs): targeting poverty reduction and enhanced livelihoods.
International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 3(1):1-23
Mortimore, M. with contributions from S. Anderson, L. Cotula, J. Davies, K. Faccer, C. Hesse, J.
Morton, W. Nyangena, J. Skinner, and C. Wolfangel (2009). Dryland Opportunities: A new
paradigm for people, ecosystems and development, IUCN, Gland, Switzerland; IIED, London,
UK and UNDP/DDC, Nairobi, Kenya. x + 86p.
Mowo, J., Opondo, C., Nyaki, A. and Admasu, Z. 2010. Addressing the Research –
Development Disconnect: Lessons from East and Central African Highlands. Development in
Practice, 20 (8): 1000 – 12
Pye-Smith, C. 2010. A rural revival in Tanzania: How agroforestry is helping farmers to restore
the woodlands in Shinyanga Region. ICRAF trees for change no. 7. Nairobi: World Agroforestry
Centre. 37p
Reij, C, Tappan, G. and Smale, M. 2009. Agro-environmental transformation in the Sahel:
Another kind of “Green Revolution.” IFPRI Discussion Paper. Washington, D.C.: International
Food Policy Research Institute
Rocheleau, D., Weber, F. and Field-Juma, A. 1988. Agroforestry in Dryland Africa. Nairobi:
International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF).
Bibliography
Jeremias Gasper Mowo holds a Ph.D. and MSc in Soil Science BSc (Agriculture) from Dar Es
Salaam University, Tanzania (1979) and an MSc and Ph.D. in Soil Science from Wageningen
University, Netherlands. He has 25 years experience in research for development in integrated
soil fertility management and intergraded natural resource management having worked in that
capacity in Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda. Currently, he coordinates the Eastern Africa
Programme of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF).
Philip Dobie is a Senior Fellow and Advisor to the Director General on Drylands at the World
Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). He has spent most of his career at the intersection of science and
international development. He worked as an entomologist with the International Centre for the
Improvement of Wheat and Maize (CIMMYT) in Mexico and managed several research projects
on crop-pest interactions for United Kingdom development assistance agencies. He was a Senior
Advisor to the UK Overseas Development Administration for natural resources management and
agricultural research, before moving to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP.
Before moving to ICRAF, he was the Director of UNDP’s Drylands Development Centre.
Kiros Hadgu
Dr. Kiros Meles Hadgu was born in Ethiopia on 06 January 1976. He has B.Sc. degree in
Dryland Agriculture and Natural Resources from Mekelle University, Ethiopia. He got M.Sc.
14
degree in 2001 and PhD degree in 2008 from Wageningen University, the Netherlands.
Currently, he is an assistant professor in the College of Dryland Agriculture and Natural
Resources, Mekelle University. He is a Managing Editor of the Journal of the Drylands.
Antoine Kalinganire has a Ph.D. in Forestry (Forest Genetics) from the Australian National
University, Canberra, 1999 and Master of Philosophy in Forestry (Tree improvement),
University of Wales, UK, 1992. His area of expertise includes Forest Genetic Resources:
conservation, domestication and linkages to food security and poverty reduction for the rural
poor smallholder farmers (ii) Species/site matching and selection of germplasm sources for
evergreen agriculture with trees, for enhanced productivity. Currently he is based at ICRAFWCA/Sahel in B.P E 5118 Bamako, Mali (e-mail: [email protected]).
15