Bringing Life Back to the Desert

For the inhabitants of Soum province, in northern Burkina Faso, survival depends on conserving the region’s rich agricultural biodiversity. It’s like an insurance policy. Farmers plant many crop types so at least part of a harvest will survive and there will be food on the table. Losing the plants that are already adapted to the harsh climate here could make food production impossible. That’s why our partner in Burkina Faso promotes agricultural practices that ensure not only biodiversity, but also healthy soils that can sustain a stable food supply.

How We Help
Burkina Faso, on the edge of the Sahara Desert, has always been burdened by a dry and difficult climate. But over the last 20 years, the situation has deteriorated. Annual rainfalls have decreased and temperatures have risen dramatically; a result of global climate change and decades of unsustainable land use practices driven by farmers’ immediate survival needs. The result is rapid soil degradation and loss of agricultural biodiversity.

That loss is a threat not only to the food security of Burkina Faso’s people, but to the rest of the world since the disappearing genetic resources are already so well-adapted to the harsh growing conditions that will characterize more and more of our planet’s agricultural land as climate change continues.

By promoting efforts to reverse biodiversity loss and providing training in its sustainable use, our partners are investing in community resilience. The need is urgent if human, plant, and animal populations in Soum are to survive. There, more than 80% of the population (252,993 people) is engaged in agriculture. But already, agricultural output is insufficient, leading to chronic food shortages. More than 25% of the citizens of Soum are chronically undernourished.

Program Components
USC has been working in this rugged region since 2002 with The Association for the Protection of Nature in the Sahel (APN Sahel). We’ve drawn on our decades of Seeds of Survival work in Mali, and blended it with the agro-forestry work that APN was already undertaking to develop an approach that is helping farmers reverse the loss of traditional knowledge and diversity, and encourage ecological farming practices. Activities include:

• Conserving Plant Resources: We continue to build and maintain community seed banks, tree seedling nurseries to ensure farmers have access to the resources they need to produce a stable food supply.
• Training: By providing training in sustainable agriculture techniques and climate change adaptation, and by fostering farmer-managed demonstration plots, we build farmer independence from industrial fertilizers and seeds, improving soil fertility and yields.
• Restoring Degraded Lands: By promoting the use of farming techniques that conserve the soil – for instance, planting native grasses and trees that help protect soil from erosion and improve soil fertility – farmers restore eroded lands, improving harvests and family nutrition.
• Developing Market Gardens: Providing water wells and irrigation facilities, and helping women access fruit tree seedlings, ensures community women can farm village gardens, growing fruits and vegetables that not only enhance family nutrition, but also improve income through local markets, and further promote agricultural biodiversity in the region.