1. RE-GREENING IN NIGER: What are the key
success factors and exploring strategies for
scaling up
Abasse Tougiani and Dennis Garrity

2. THE SITUATION IN THE EARLY 1980s
• Cereal yields low and falling (below 400 kg/ha)
• Structural food deficits
• Groundwater table dropping (about 1 m/year)
• Large-scale degradation of vegetation
• Rural-urban and rural-rural migration intensifies

3. Drought in the 1970s and
1980s …

4. REACTIONS IN THE 1980s TO THE CRISIS
• Awareness of the role of trees in agricultural production in
particular and in the survival of households in general
characterized the younger generation;
• How to bring the tree (which we destroyed) in the soil?
• A great idea part of an observation: sowing in the fields of
wanderers where clearing was done late outperformed in
the fields of those who cleared in time (that is to say, who
laid bare their fields ) before planting.
• It was then that everyone saves trees in his field while
avoiding cutting operations during soil preparation;
• Promotion of Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration.

5. Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR)
What it is?
• Systematic regeneration of living and sprouting tree stumps.
This ‘shrub’ is actually the sprouting stump of a
tree which has been chopped down. Few forestry
or agro-forestry projects take into account the
tremendous potential of these existing resources
After just one year the numerous stems are growing
vigorously and straight. Ideally, one or two are
harvested from the clump each year, always leaving
new regrowth to replace them.

6. Reasons for the successful spread of FMNR in
Niger
• Conducive legal environment: granting informal approval for
farmers to be able to reap the benefits of their labours. A cleared
way for FMNR to spread unimpeded. Without this sense of
ownership, FMNR could never take hold and spread;
• Inclusive governance structures: Inclusion of all stakeholders in
decision making has been pivotal to the successful adoption and
spread of FMNR. Committees comprise women, men and youth,
village residents and sedentary Fulani herders living outside the
villages. Membership is decided through a vote by all community
members.
• Simplicity and cost effectiveness
• Accessibility
• Profitability
• Self-replicating
• The scale of farmer-managed re-greening in Niger

7. Potential pathways and opportunities for up-
scaling FMNR in northern Nigeria
Comparative Overview of Terroirs on Opposite Sides
of the Niger-Nigeria Border
Niger
Nigeria

8. Potential pathways and opportunities for up-scaling
FMNR in northern Nigeria (cont.)
Why is it important to scale existing farmer managed re-
greening?
• Agroforestry systems, pillar of future agriculture in Africa’s drylands
and sub-humid regions;
• Help smallholder farmers create more complex, more productive
and drought-resilient farming systems;
• On-farm trees not only increase food security, but they also help
farmers to adapt to climate change, produce more fodder for
livestock and a wide range of other benefits;
• Increasing the number of on-farm trees is only a first essential step;
more is needed to significantly increase crop yields for a rapidly
growing population
• Big advantage of on-farm trees is that they help maintain or
improve soil organic matter, which makes it rational for farmers to
begin using small quantities of inorganic fertilizers.

9. Scaling existing re-greening successes: how do you do
it?
Working at the grass root
• Organize farmer-to-farmer visits;
• Farmer experts train farmers and herders;
• Support or develop village institutions;
• Introduce agroforestry competitions at different levels;
• Develop a movement of non-governmental organisations and civil society
organisations and build their capacity to promote re-greening by farmers
(men and women);
INVOLVE GOVERNMENT (TOP-DOWN MEETS BOTTOM-UP)
• Adapt national agricultural policies and forestry legislation;
• Mainstream re-greening into existing and new agricultural development
projects;
• Organize field visits for national policymakers;
• Create a Presidential Award for the best re-greening/agroforestry village;

10. Scaling existing re-greening successes: how
do you do it? (cont.)
• DEVELOP A COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
• Use the mass media to inform farmers and herders;
• Link ICT, radio and internet (develop a “web of speech”);
• Produce documentaries for national TV;
• Organize national and regional experience sharing workshops;
• Mobilize African champions to promote re-greening;
• Mobilize international media;
• Develop advocacy at all levels;
ROLE OF THE MARKET IN SCALING UP
• Support the development of agroforestry value chains;
• Induce or support the private sector to develop input/output markets

11. It is possible to improve the
livelihoods of millions
of farmers in Africa !!