Agriculture and Land Restoration in the Sahel
In the tropics in general and in Mali in particular, “fallowing has preserved the fertility of cultivators’ soils for thousands of years by providing them with 70 to 95% of their organic matter. But today, with most smallholder farmers owning less than 2 hectares of land largely due to population growth, fallowing is in its final days. As a result, developing countries are facing a serious organic matter crisis,” (ideafrique.org).
In our area of intervention, shaken by repetitive droughts, the land gets poorer each year causing mass displacement, exodus and immigration. Yagana is committed to supporting land restoration initiatives for better productivity. “The crisis of (insufficient) organic matter in the soil constitutes a major constraint on agricultural production, in fact, soils deteriorate and become depleted, such that their fertility becomes the first limiting factor for the small farmers of the world,” (ideafrique.org). Soil restoration is a fundamental technology for remediating this.
To address immediate needs, Yagana is fundraising for a cereal bank that will protect people currently experiencing famine in the region. The cereal bank will store cereals purchased during the period when they can be obtained cheaper and resold to the poorest during the lean period: July, August and September, the months that correspond to the end of previous harvests and the cultivation of new seeds. The bank will be self-supporting once it is operational.
Approximately Euros 30,000 is needed for the cereal bank project.