Evergreen Agriculture: a robust approach to sustainable food security in Africa

Abstract

Producing more food for a growing population in the coming decades, while at the same time combating poverty and hunger, is a huge challenge facing African agriculture. The risks that come with climate change make this task more daunting. However, hundreds of thousands of rain fed smallholder farmers in Zambia, Malawi, Niger, and Burkina Faso have been shifting to farming systems that are restoring exhausted soils and are increasing food crop yields, household food security, and incomes. This article reviews these experiences, and their broader implications for African food security, as manifestations of Evergreen Agriculture, a fresh approach to achieving food security and environmental resilience. Evergreen Agriculture is defined as the integration of particular tree species into annual food crop systems. The intercropped trees sustain a green cover on the land throughout the year to maintain vegetative soil cover, bolster nutrient supply through nitrogen fixation and nutrient cycling, generate greater quantities of organic matter in soil surface residues, improve soil structure and water infiltration, increase greater direct production of food, fodder, fuel, fiber and income from products produced by the intercropped trees, enhance carbon storage both above-ground and belowground, and induce more effective conservation of aboveand below-ground biodiversity. Four national cases are reviewed where farmers are observed to be applying these principles on a major scale. The first case involves the experience of Zambia, where conservation farming programmes include the cultivation of food crops within an agroforest of the fertilizer tree Faidherbia albida. The second case is that of the Malawi Agroforestry Food Security Programme, which is integrating fertilizer, fodder, fruit, fuel wood, and timber tree production with food crops on small farms on a national scale. The third case is the dramatic expansion of Faidherbia albida agroforests in millet and sorghum production systems throughout Niger via assisted natural regeneration. The fourth case is the development of a unique type of planting pit technology (zai) along with farmer-managed natural regeneration of trees on a substantial scale in Burkina Faso. Lastly, we examine the current outlook for Evergreen Agriculture to be further adapted and scaled-up across the African continent.

Landscape diversity and associated coping strategies during food shortage periods: evidence from the Sudano-Sahelian region of Burkina Faso

“…Forests are important for crops (Verchot et al 2007;Garrity et al 2010); they provide food, fuel, fodder and facilitate income generation. In poor, rural communities with less income opportunities, people often use forest resources in times of crisis (Fisher and Shively 2005).…”

A agroecologia: estratégias de pesquisa e valores

“…O Sistema Agroflorestal (SAF), que utiliza princípios e processos agroecológicos, também tem sido avaliado. Por exemplo, no Malawi, o uso de árvores fixadoras de nitrogênio atmosférico no SAF, o que possibilita produzir sem o seu aporte externo, aumentou o rendimento de milho em 1 a 3 t/ha (Garrity et al, 2010).…”

Supporting conservation with biodiversity research in sub-Saharan Africa’s human-modified landscapes

“…Kenyan farmers, for example, plant crops of fodder trees, which raise milk yields of cows and goats (Pye-Smith 2010a). Government programs in Niger, Zambia, Malawi, and Burkina Faso support large-scale "evergreen agriculture" projects to plant indigenous trees such as Faidherbia albida among crops, which maintain green cover year-round, increase yields by improving soil fertility, and provide fodder and firewood (Garrity et al 2010). Evergreen agriculture and other technological agroforestry projects are touted as having greater biodiversity value than do monoculture crops (see PyeSmith 2010a, b; Kalaba et al 2010;Garrity et al 2010).…”

“…Government programs in Niger, Zambia, Malawi, and Burkina Faso support large-scale "evergreen agriculture" projects to plant indigenous trees such as Faidherbia albida among crops, which maintain green cover year-round, increase yields by improving soil fertility, and provide fodder and firewood (Garrity et al 2010). Evergreen agriculture and other technological agroforestry projects are touted as having greater biodiversity value than do monoculture crops (see PyeSmith 2010a, b; Kalaba et al 2010;Garrity et al 2010). Yet, evidence to support these claims remains mostly anecdotal, warranting further research because plans are underway to expand technological agroforestry projects throughout Africa (Garrity et al 2010).…”

“…Evergreen agriculture and other technological agroforestry projects are touted as having greater biodiversity value than do monoculture crops (see PyeSmith 2010a, b; Kalaba et al 2010;Garrity et al 2010). Yet, evidence to support these claims remains mostly anecdotal, warranting further research because plans are underway to expand technological agroforestry projects throughout Africa (Garrity et al 2010). …”