Agro-ecological farming and agroforestry with fertile trees in the Zio Valley in Togo
In Togo, as in many African countries, extensive agriculture puts lots of pressure on natural resources: the use of fertilizers, the expansion of cultivated areas and monoculture have exhausted the soil. Agroforestry using fertile trees, an ancestral technique, can help counteract these devastating effects on the environment, accentuated by the impacts of climate change.
In collaboration with the Association for the Promotion of Fertilized Trees (APAF), The Ivory Foundation has set up an agroforestry project to support vegetable producers in the Zio-South Valley (Togo) with the aim of:
- providing healthy vegetables (without chemical inputs) for Lomé and Tsévié populations to improve their health;
- reforest the banks of the Zio River, and contribute to the development of free gardening sites for poor women;
- partly solve flood problems in the city of Lome.
The APAF has selected about thirty trees with fertile properties, such as Samanea Saman or Albizia adianthifolia, and offers training in agroforestry and simple agroecological techniques adapted to the contexts and needs of the population.
The specific objective is to sustainably increase the productive capacities of 3 groups of 15 peasant women in the village, but also to capitalize, share and disseminate the existing achievements of APAF in agroforestry and forestry.
Agroforestry thus makes it possible to:
- naturally and sustainably fertilize the soil;
- contain erosion;
- increase and diversify the production and profits of peasant women;
- provide healthy vegetables (without chemical inputs) for Lomé and Tsévié populations to improve their health;
- produce lumber and service nearby;
- produce large quantities of feed for animals;
- produce edible leaves and fruits (Moringa Oléifera, …);
- reduce agricultural work (especially for women: proximity to service wood produced in agroforestry fields);
- enrich biodiversity;
- build resilience capacities of populations and promote their adaptation to the effects of climate change.