Niger and Sahel use Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration Increase Yields to Improve Food Security



As described in this recent National Geographic article (see link below), farmers in Niger let cut trees regrow in their fields, leading to improved crop yields from retained soil moisture and fertilization by fallen leaves. Improved crop yields can improve food security.

Over the past 35 years Niger has added at least 200 million new indigenous trees and has re-established woodlands over at least 12 million acres, a bit less than the size of the state of West Virginia.

Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration to Increase Crop Yields, or FMNR, is an old approach that is receiving new attention from local farmers and is effective because it is cheap, it can be scaled easily and it meets individual farmers’ needs.

This FMNR approach can be scaled in the Sahel region and other pastoralist zones throughout Africa and on other continents where rainfall is decreasing.  The US Geological Service has verified these changes.  Click this link for the full story:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/how-farmers-in-earths-least-developed-country-grew-200-million-trees?loggedin=true

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