Trees 'boost African crop yields and food security' (BBC) {nitrogen fixation}

[eppur_se_muova]

By Mark Kinver
Environment reporter, BBC News

Planting trees that improve soil quality can help boost crop yields for African farmers, an assessment shows.

Fertiliser tree systems (FTS) also help boost food security and play a role in "climate proofing" the region's arable land, the paper adds.

Researchers from the World Agroforestry Centre say poor soil fertility is one of the main obstacles to improving food production in Africa.

The results appear in the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability.

"In Africa, it is generally agreed that poor soil management - along with poor water management - is most greatly affecting yields," explained co-author Frank Place, head of the centre's Impact Assessment team.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15305271

[lumberjack_jeff]

1. Take care of the soil and the plants will take care of themselves. n/t

[xchrom]

2. recommend

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. New Study Finds 400,000 Farmers in Southern Africa Using ‘Fertilizer Trees’ to Dramatically Improve

http://www.worldagroforestrycentre.org/newsroom/press-releases/new-study-finds-400000-farmers-southern-africa-using-%E2%80%98fertilizer-trees%E2%80%99-dram

New Study Finds 400,000 Farmers in Southern Africa Using ‘Fertilizer Trees’ to Dramatically Improve Food Security

…

NAIROBI, KENYA (14 October 2011)— On a continent battered by weather extremes, famine and record food prices, new research released today from the World Agroforestry Centre documents an exciting new trend in which hundreds of thousands of poor farmers in Southern Africa are now significantly boosting yields and incomes simply by using fast growing trees and shrubs to naturally fertilize their fields.

The analysis of two decades of work to bring the soil-enriching benefits of so-called “fertilizer trees” to the nutrient-depleted farms of Africa was published in the most recent issue of the http://www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=503">International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability.

“In only five African countries, there are now some 400,000 smallholder farmers using fertilizer trees to provide critically needed soil nutrients—and many report major increases in maize yields—which shows that it is possible to rapidly introduce innovations in Africa that can have an immediate impact on food security,” said Oluyede Ajayi, Senior Scientist at the World Agroforestry Centre and the paper’s lead author.

The study focuses on the rapid adoption of fertilizer trees by farmers targeted in research, training and extension programs in Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In eastern Zambia alone, the study reports the use of fertilizer trees grew from a pilot project in the early 1990s that involved only 12 farmers to adoption by 66,000 farmers as of 2006. In Malawi, there are now 145,000 farmers using fertilizer trees.

…