Seeds of change: How farmers are growing food security in Africa’s drylands
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In the harshest climates, food is hard to come by.
In a quiet field in rural Burkina Faso, an ancient and gigantic baobab tree is thriving. At a guess, it would take perhaps twenty people holding hands to wrap themselves around its trunk. And it’s a hive of activity – literally. The air around us is humming with thousands of bees and fruit bats who have made the upper branches their home. Beneath the soil, its roots extend for around ten meters, well into the fields of surrounding crops. And this is where the real wonder happens.
Trees are nature’s fertilisers. Tree roots breathe life back into the earth, filling the soil with nutrients. Without them, soil that is normally teeming with microscopic life will die, and crops won’t grow.
Across African drylands, deforestation and the effects of the climate crisis are having a huge impact on people’s ability to grow enough food.
One in every five people in sub-Saharan Africa are undernourished. In Burkina Faso, 70% of the population rely on agriculture to survive but, like many regions across Africa, the threat of the climate crisis here means that over a third of people are living with extreme poverty and hunger.
Trees offer a solution. Not only do they replenish the land, but tree leaves, nuts and fruits can offer communities a vital source of nutritious and sustainable food.
That’s why people living on the frontlines of the climate crisis are coming together, to grow trees, bring life back to degraded land, and grow food security for themselves and the future generations.
Saidou and Sadia are from communities doing just that.
Saidou Zoungrana: "Each person has the capacity to do something"
We meet Saidou on a hot day in August, after a long car ride along partially flooded rural roads to reach his community. A 40-year-old father of nine, Saidou earns an income through agriculture, growing enough crops to feed his family and sell at local markets. We sit together beneath the shade of mango trees outside his home, surrounded by fields full of maize, aubergine and groundnuts.
Although Saidou’s yields this year have been good, it hasn’t always been this way. Over the years, the effects of the climate crisis have made themselves known. Droughts are harsh and common. Rainfall is less predictable. When rain does come, it struggles to penetrate the dry, parched earth, flooding the land and washing away the soil.
Since joining Tree Aid’s project, Saidou and his community have witnessed the power of trees, and how applying agroforestry techniques on the land can secure food supply for the community.
"I get my food through agricultural activities," Saidou says, "particularly farming and livestock rearing, as well as protecting forest resources. The work in the fields used to be hard, but with agroforestry the difficulties have eased."
A tree is like a human. If you take care of a tree and it continues to survive, it gives you fruits.
Agroforestry is the principle that farmers can work with trees to improve their agricultural activities. Instead of cutting them down to make way for crops or livestock, trees are cared for and encouraged to flourish. The result is land that is better protected against degradation and erosion, both common problems in climate-sensitive regions such as Burkina Faso.
"A tree is like a human. If you take care of a tree and it continues to survive, it gives you fruits and fertilises the farm," Saidou adds. "Even if the project is finished, the knowledge stays with us. We can continue caring about trees."
In a Tree Aid project, communities in Burkina Faso experienced a remarkable 161% increase in their annual income from selling tree produce, such as moringa and baobab. This income boost has enabled them to diversify their diets, improving nutrition and reducing malnutrition by up to 42%, specifically among children under five. This is a positive outcome and a step towards reducing food insecurity and enhancing the health of local families.
"Each person has the capacity to do something, and if we can do something together, we can produce more. We have a shared purpose."
Sadia Neindoo: "Trees are very important. Shea helps us get an income"
Over 200 miles away in Ghana, Sadia, a small-scaleholder farmer and mother, is taking part in a Tree Aid project. Over the years, she’s faced relentless challenges caused by food scarcity and financial instability.
"It’s always on my mind that I need to care for the children,” she says. "We are always worried, there are always problems."
But things are changing. Since joining the project Sadia has been able to grow more food and earn an income. Shea trees, often dubbed ‘women’s gold’ for the shea butter that can be made from them, provide Sadia with a way of boosting her monthly earnings.
"Trees are very important. Shea helps us get an income – we can process it into butter and we can use the oil for cooking. Now we know how to make it and we don’t need to buy any."
On top of this, growing trees provides Sadia and her community with a reliable source of healthy food.
"We pound shea nuts to prepare a soup, breastfeeding mothers will drink this to give them good milk," she explains. "In the dry season we were always suffering but now we don’t because we are growing vegetables and selling them."
Saidou and Sadia’s stories are just two among many families across dryland Africa struggling with food and financial shortages. But it’s people like them that are proving that it is possible to work with nature, instead of against it, to grow brighter futures for generations to come.