Zanbal and African farmers develop agriculture under faidherbia on a social business model taking advantage of the voluntary carbon market

1. developer of agriculture under faidherbia
www.zanbal.net

2. zanbal is a social business
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« The business objective is to overcome
poverty, or one or more problems (such as
education, health, technology access, and
environment) that threaten people and
society - not to maximize profit.
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The company will attain financial and
economic sustainability.
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Investors get back only their investment
amount. No dividend is given beyond the
return of the original investment.
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When the investment amount is paid back,
profit stays with company for expansion and
improvement.
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The company will be environmentally
conscious.
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The workforce gets market wage with
better-than-standard working conditions.
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Do it with joy!!! »
zanbal objective is to develop
agriculture under faidherbia

3. agriculture under faidherbia
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Faidherbia albida (syn Acacia albida) is
famous for its interest in agroforestry in
Sahelian Africa, from the Atlantic Ocean to
the Red Sea.
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Its plantation and protection are or have
been promoted by many traditions and
African political systems, as well as by most
experts in agricultural development.
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It has the OUTSTANDING feature of losing
its leaves in the early rainy season, fertilizing
crops and making them no shade: the yield
is doubled!
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This advantage makes it a FANTASTIC
solution to sequester carbon on agricultural
fields without turning them into forests and
without losing their productivity, quite the
contrary!

4. agriculture under faidherbia
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The only inputs in African villages are those
coming from photosynthesis and their
transformation.
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Faidherbia albida boosts agroecosystems by
drawing nitrogen from the air (bacterial
symbiosis), phosphorus with efficiency from
the soil (mycorhizal symbiosis), and other
minerals from the deep layers of the soil
and making them available to crops by
falling leaves at the beginning of the rainy
season.
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Yield is doubled under the tree, which is
about 10 kg of supplementary food
products per tree.
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It also produces 10 kg of pods to
supplement the diet of ruminants, very
important for agroecosystems.
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Its presence allows to stop fallowing and to
cultivate fields each year, which is a simple
and effective way to increase agricultural
productivity

5. social business model
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Trees growing remove CO2 from the
atmosphere - around 3 tCO2e in 30 years
regarding Faidherbia
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Certificates of tCO2e removed can be
emitted on faidherbia parklands with
international high quality labels
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The market of GHG emission reduction by
agriculture and agroforestry was over 5
millions tCO2e in 2012, in a global forest
carbon market over 20 millions
●
Companies want to be SUSTAINABLE and
tackle their exposure to carbon risks, to
demonstrate climate leadership, to
anticipate regulation
●
To sponsor agriculture under faidherbia
with carbon market is our strategy to
replace donation to planters by trade WITH
planters and to pay on the basis of results
we believe in the future

6. planters
Planters are farmers in the dry
Tropics. They're among the least
contributors and the most
vulnerable to global warming
Faidherbia is
traditional in this area
and known for its
drought tolerance
(temperature is not an
issue)

7. zanbal CO2 store
We communicate with farmers about:
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Benefits of farming under faidherbia
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How to grow faidherbia
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Mechanisms of our venture
We publish with candidates a project
presentation in the CO2 store of
www.facebook.com/balanzanbal
Let's look at an
example

8. Soumaïla Konté is the chief of
Welengara since his brother died a
few years ago. His brother had
started planting trees and we sign a
contract with his nephew first. Then
Soumaïla has been candidate too. He
got good success, putting cattle
bones, teeth, horns at the foot of the
young trees (traditional protection
and nutrients). The main part of
Balanzan music video by Milk Coffee
& Sugar was filmed in his village.
FIELD
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Field location : West of Welengara, on Siguidolo trail, close to The
Welengara women’s garden
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Field size : 3.00 ha
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Land owning : oral confirmation given by the chief of the village
(traditional rules)
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Soil : sandy, rock at 11 m
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Water table at 12 meters depth
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Land use : cultivated for more than 50 years. Millet and sorghum
are produced now, with an average production close to 2 tonnes.
Soil health is decreasing.The field is plowed with oxen and
manured. No change occured in agricultural practices in the last
10 years. Before the project, there were 3 trees in the field
(including 1 Faidherbia albida) that are still protected.
IMPLEMENTATION
● 2009-II-4th : signing the contract for 100 trees
● 2010-II-24th : 83 promising small trees seen,
XOF 65,000 paid
● 2010-XII-19th : 98 trees seen, XOF 65,000 paid
● 2012-II-13th : 86 trees seen, XOF 55,950 paid,
contract increasing to 200 trees
● 2013 (war) : 139 trees seen, XOF 90,350 paid
● 2014 : 173 trees seen, XOF 112,450 paid
pictures of the trees in 2014 :pictures of the trees in 2014 :
PROJECT
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Project of 200 trees sequestering 600 tonnes of CO2 in 30 years.
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From 15-25 years, trees should have a big impact on soil health
and should produce each year an amount of green manure
equivalent to 500 kg of N + 45 kg of P2O5 + 240 kg of K2O with
leaves falling to the ground + manure from cattle eating the 2
tonnes of pods and enjoying the shade.
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Crop yield will be increased and manure used for this field
currently will be available for another field. At the farm level,
agricultural production should be increased by 2 tonnes of food
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Soumaïla will receive € 4,000 (200 trees x 1 €/tree/year x 20 first
years). He will use this money to microfinance his priorities.
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Photos of each tree will be available via internet during the 10
first years and then every five years during the 20 following
years
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tCO2e will be certified under an international high quality
standard
zanbal CO2 store : an example

9. social business plan
We plan a 3-phase development
1) 2014-2017 : we gradually develop our
methods and procedures and our ability to sell
and produce from 3,000 to 18,000 trees per
year
2) 2018-2028 : we stabilize our business to
20,000 trees per year and we are preparing
the next phase
3) 2029-2043 : we sell and plant 700,000 trees
with a peak of 100,000 trees per year
This plan is achievable:
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Forest carbon market was over 20 millions
tCO2e in 2012
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Pressure will increase on GHG emissions
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To convince 100 farmers per year to plant
10,000 to 20,000 faidherbias is not an issue.
Sahelian cooperatives often represent more
than 1,000 farmers. They offer human
resources to prepare contracts, produce
pictures, pay farmers ...

10. zanbal & you
Zanbal's users are:
●
Corporate Social Responsibility
departments
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Foundations
●
People
They buy tCO2e or fund trees growth,
sponsoring the development of agriculture
under faidherbia.
Our plan is to sell and plant at least 3,000
trees = 9,000 tCO2e in 2014 to be able to
succeed Phase 1.
Phase 1 is the root of our social business.
Partners helping us to succeed it make
possible the achievement of Phases 2 and 3.
we want to convince you to join us
for a shared success of Phase 1
xavierlacan@zanbal.net +33648543000

11. thank you !

12. annex 1 : further information regarding zanbal
Team
Zanbal's team is composed to date of:
5 partners including a Malian manager of Zanbal SARL Mali
3 Sahelian contractuals working part time for Zanbal
41 Malian farmers + 30 Burkinabe farmers
Xavier Lacan, French agronomist, is at the root of the project.
Aware of the interest of Faidherbia albida in 1994 by
Professor Julien Coléou at AgroParisTech, he chose this tree
to reduce its own CO2 emissions and create a social business
based on the Clean Development Mechanism of the United
Nations Organization.
Terms of use
Trees' photographers sign an annual contract with Zanbal to
produce a picture per tree per year during the first 10 years and one
photo per tree every 5 years afterward. They receive € 0.15 per
picture. Each picture must show the stone indicating the number of
the tree and an indicator of the size of the tree. The pictures are
taken between December and February. They are recoded by the
photographer and published by him on the web.
Zanbal connects stakeholders for 30 years, coordinating the
contributions of farmers and photographers, manages the company
and its relations with officials and banks, manages the website,
invoices users and pays growers and photographers.
Zanbal gets certificates of greenhouse gases emission reduction and
shares them with users without profit. A Project design document is
prepared and submitted to an accredited independent auditor that
performs an initial visit and one visit every 5 years. Certificates are
shared between users in proportion to the number of trees funded.
Zanbal is committed to do its best to achieve 3 tons of CO2 per tree
after 30 years. Nevertheless, Zanbal is not responsible for
non-fulfillment of this service for reasons of human or natural
exceptional events. In case of termination of service for any reason,
Zanbal is committed to do its best to transfer its engagements to
another structure or, if not possible, to share its financial resources
between the planters pro rata trees planted.

13. annex 2 : global warming and Sahelian farmers
Assessing climate change impacts on sorghum and millet yields in the Sudanian and Sahelian
savannas of West Africa, B. Sultan et al.
Figure 2. The effect of rainfall and temperature changes on mean crop yield. Mean crop yield change (%) relative to the 1961–90 baseline
for 7 temperatures (x-axis) and 5 rainfall (y-axis) scenarios. Results are shown as the average over the 35 stations across West Africa and
the 6 cultivars of sorghum and millet. White triangles and circles are the projected anomalies computed by several CMIP3 GCMs and
three IPCC emission scenarios (B1, A1B, A2) for 2071–90 and 2031–50, respectively. Projections from CMIP5 GCMs and three RCPs (4.5,
6.0 and 8.5) are represented by grey triangles and circles. Models and scenarios names are displayed in figure S2 (available at
stacks.iop.org/ERL/8/014040/mmedia). Past observed climate anomalies from CRU data are also projected by computing 10-year
averages (e.g. ‘1940’ is for 1941–50). All mean yield changes are significant at a 5% level except boxes with a diagonal line.