Anyone who recalls the images of famine victims in the Sahel region of Africa might be startled by the scene today in one village in Burkina Faso. "In 1985 the situation was desperate: no water in the wells, very few trees," says geographer Chris Reij of the Free University of Amsterdam. "Now you have roughly 40 trees on a hectare—baobabs, neem trees—some of them grown very tall."
Satellite data show the desert has been slowly retreating all across the region for 15 years, giving way to young forests and resurgent crops. Part of the improvement is due to increased rainfall. Equally important, says Reij, is the adoption of better farming and water conservation practices. In response to years of drought, villagers began to revive a traditional form of land management, digging manure-filled planting pits to absorb water and attract dung-digesting termites that help fertilize the soil. Meanwhile, donor agencies have funded the building of stone lines along the contours of the land to slow the flow of water over the soil.
Reij's study, conducted with remote-sensing specialist Gray Tappan of the U.S. Geological Survey, shows that millet and sorghum yields in northern Burkina Faso have increased by 50 percent or more. "The Yatenga—once the most degraded province—has become one of the most important vegetable-producing regions in Burkina Faso. Thousands of hectares of barren land have been rehabilitated," Reij says.
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| This farm in Ranawa, Burkina Faso, was barren less than 20 years ago. Photographs courtesy of Chris Reij. |
Satellite data show the desert has been slowly retreating all across the region for 15 years, giving way to young forests and resurgent crops. Part of the improvement is due to increased rainfall. Equally important, says Reij, is the adoption of better farming and water conservation practices. In response to years of drought, villagers began to revive a traditional form of land management, digging manure-filled planting pits to absorb water and attract dung-digesting termites that help fertilize the soil. Meanwhile, donor agencies have funded the building of stone lines along the contours of the land to slow the flow of water over the soil.
Reij's study, conducted with remote-sensing specialist Gray Tappan of the U.S. Geological Survey, shows that millet and sorghum yields in northern Burkina Faso have increased by 50 percent or more. "The Yatenga—once the most degraded province—has become one of the most important vegetable-producing regions in Burkina Faso. Thousands of hectares of barren land have been rehabilitated," Reij says.
