Presentation hold by Chris Reij, Sustainable Land Management specialist, and a Senior Fellow of the World Resources Institute, as part of the second panel of the 30th edition of the Brussels Briefing on “Agricultural resilience in the face of crisis and shocks", organized by CTA in collaboration with the ACP Secretariat, the EC/DEVCO, Concord, and IFPRI on 4th March 2013. More on: http://brusselsbriefings.net/

1. Brussels Briefing n. 30
Agricultural Resilience in the Face of Crises and Shocks
4th March 2013
http://brusselsbriefings.net
Resilience-building in the Sahel: Regreening the Sahel
Chris Reij, SLM specialist, Senior Fellow, World
Resources Institute

2. RE-GREENING IN THE SAHEL:
BUILDING RESILIENCE AND
IMPROVING FOOD SECURITY

4. Vegetation in Galma in 1975 and 2003
1975 2003

5. Farmer-managed re-greening in
Niger
 5,000,000 ha re-greened in 20 years
(no recurrent costs to governments)
 200 million new trees (not planted)
 additional cereal production/year:
500,000 ton
 2.5 million people fed
 1.25 million farm households involved

6. One million ha dominated by Faidherbia
albida: improved soil fertility and
more fodder

7. Grain surplus Kantché Department
(Zinder/Niger). 350,000 inhabitants;
high on-farm tree density
 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)

8. WATER HARVESTING AND AGROFORESTRY
Simple techniques
1990
Zaï Demi lunes
Important impacts
2004
Piliostigma reticulatum Combretum glutinosum

10. NEW AGROFORESTS ON MALI’S
SENO PLAINS (450,000 ha)
GRAIN SURPLUS IN 2011: about 50,000 tons

12. THIS IS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE ON THE GROUND

13. FARMERS PRUNE IN JUNE
AND LITTER IMPROVES SOIL
FERTILITY

14. MULTIPLE IMPACTS OF RE-GREENING
INCLUDE:
☛ IMPROVED FOOD SECURITY
☛ ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
☛ MITIGATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE
☛ POVERTY REDUCTION
☛ MORE FIREWOOD
☛ MORE FODDER
☛ REDUCTION OF CONFLICTS

15. VEGETATION TURNS DOWN THE HEAT

16. Some lessons
 Farmers invest in on-farm trees when
they have exclusive rights to their trees
 Vital contribution from governments:
lowering barriers to millions of farmers to
invest in trees (national legislation,
policies, incentives)
 More people, more trees

17. KEY CHALLENGE FOR ACTION: SCALE UP
EXISTING SUCCESSES IN ON-FARM RE-GREENING

18. IS IT INCREASED
RAINFALL?

19. Location of 12 Terroirs Used for Comparing
Tree Density Across the Niger-Nigeria Border
Niger
• Tahoua
• Zinder Terroirs
• Maradi ■
■
■ ■
■
■
■
■ ■
■
■
Nigeria ■
0 200 km

20. Terroir in Niger 19 km North of the Niger-Nigeria Border
Source: Google Earth, 2005

21. Terroir in Niger 8.5 km North of the Niger-Nigeria Border
Source: Google Earth, 2005

22. Terroir in Nigeria 1.5 km south of the Niger-Nigeria Border
Source: Google Earth, 2005

23. Terroir in Nigeria 38 km south of the Niger-Nigeria Border
Source: Google Earth, 2005

24. Comparative Overview of Terroirs on Opposite Sides
of the Niger-Nigeria Border
Niger
Nigeria
Source: Google Earth, 2005