I was a Natural Resources Management (NRM) volunteer. Most of Niger's population lives along the southern border of the country, and as you go further north you encounter the Sahel, then the Sahara desert. Due to a major drought in the '70s and poor farming and grazing practices, the Sahara desert has been spreading. Strong winds blow away precious topsoil and spread sand over fields. People cut down the few trees they have, resulting in erosion, poorer soil quality, and less animal fodder.
Technical training:
As a NRM volunteer, I learned how to use agroforestry to improve farm soil quality and prevent desertification and erosion.
We learned how to prevent sand dunes from spreading by planting rows of trees or rows of sticks to make a fence that would slow the wind down;
Planting "wind breaks" (rows of trees that would slow down the wind) around fields;
Creating "live" and "dead" fences to prevent animals from eating crops (basically a hedge of live trees or sticks);
The creation of rock "walls" to block the flow of water in gullys (and preventing further erosion of precious farmland);
Special crop planting techniques to reclaim rock-hard soil (hardpan) and to collect maximum rainwater;
Zai holes
Demi lunes
Planting, pruning, and harvesting gum arabic (sap from the gum arabic tree used in cosmetics, cola, candy, and glue);
Grafting trees such as gum arabic, mango, citrus, and desert date;
Planting moringa trees as a food source and income generation (the leaves are nutritious and taste like spinach);
And finally, showing people how to make tree nurseries so they can plant trees in their yard or field.
Stay tuned to hear what I actually ended up doing!
