Author: Danny De Zeeuw

Perma Atlas Initiative

Home to 1200 people and with an altitude of 1800 m, the low Atlas Mountain area in Morocco is very dry and arid, with little to no trees outside of the river valleys. In recent years, climate change has brought prolonged periods of drought, flooding, and erosion of mountain slopes which have severely impacted the land. Soil fertility has declined, and the landscape has become extremely dry and degraded – partly as a result of implementing unsustainable agricultural techniques. Unpredictable rainfall and intense droughts have created problems such as soil erosion, landslides, and a reduction in healthy and productive land for agriculture.

Perma Atlas

In 2014, the village of Angulez – located in the Ounila Valley of the Atlas Mountains – experienced some devastating floods that further damaged farmlands and degraded the landscape. This, in turn, is driving the youth away from this region to pursue more stable futures in bigger urban parts of the country. The Perma Atlas project is working to restore and recover the valley and slopes back to their greener form by engaging local communities and farmers, providing them with techniques to sustainably restore this mountainous biome. By reintroducing techniques such as permaculture and sustainable land management practices, the project aims to regenerate and recover the High Atlas Mountains’ ecosystem. Through teaching project participants and community members how to implement interventions such as kitchen gardens, gabions, and swales, local communities learn how to work with nature, rather than against it, in order to restore their lands.

The Greener.Land team connected with Latifa Oumlil – the project leader – and flew out to learn more about the Perma Atlas project and to film the progress and experiences of local community members in restoring the Ounila Valley. The Greener.Land team met with Latifa and Khalid Hmittou, the videographer, and drove to the Atlas mountains. Over 5 days, they met with villagers, filmed the landscape, conducted interviews, and documented the implementation of different regenerative interventions. To see what the Perma Atlas project is doing to regreen the land of Ounila Valley, check out the videos on this page!

If you want to learn more about the interventions you have seen practiced in these videos, check out the intervention pages for Kitchen Gardens, Gabions, and Swales!

Location: Anguelz, Telouet, Atlas Mountains, Morocco

Regreening Murcia

Restoring degraded farmland in Murcia, Spain

Iris van der Horst and Remko Schouten bought a large part of land together in Murcia, Spain with the intention to restore the health of the land and regreen the area, alongside their team of regreening experts. These experts are: Cedrick Gijsbertsen and Lucas Borst.

Murcia is an increasingly arid region in Southern Spain. Up to 90% of land in this area is at high risk of degradation of natural ecosystems and desertification. Climate change has exacerbated drought conditions and led to a reduction in annual rainfall. This has increased erosion, leading to losses in soil fertility, and a decline in the ability of native vegetation to thrive.

Over the course of the next years, the team plan to work on restoring the health of the soils and the overall landscape. They will film their progress and the challenges they face, and these videos will be shared on the Greener.Land platform. The team aims to document the different interventions they will try out on the land, to see how the landscape responds.

The group first flew out to begin documenting this process in January 2023. They have returned a number of times since to get the project moving and begin their journey to restoring their landscape!

Stay tuned for videos from Regreening Murcia!

Kuku Group Ranch

Nestled between the Rombo and Mbririkani Ranches, the Kuku Group Ranch is a savannah landscape and critical wildlife corridor between the Amboseli and Tsavo National Parks. The area is home to more than 29,000 Maasai people. In recent years, the Kuku ranch’s population has grown exponentially, at the same time, the area is increasingly affected by unpredictable rainfall and decreasing topsoil quality due to climate change. Some parts of the region now only receive 400 mm of rainfall annually. These factors have led to increasingly rapid erosion and degradation of pasturelands for the Maasai community to live and farm on. Consequently, agricultural and livestock productivity have decreased dramatically, affecting many Maasai livelihoods across the savannah landscape. Historic overgrazing of the land by cattle coupled with the effects of climate change are drying up the land and reducing its productive capacity, causing water and food scarcity, increasing poverty, and leading to a loss of biodiversity.

The Kuku Group Ranch is undertaking a project alongside Justdiggit that aims to regenerate and revitalize the land to bring it back to its productive and functional former self, to safeguard the livelihoods of the Maasai community and allow them to realize environmental benefits of the land. A number of different interventions are being implemented on the ranch that will improve soil health, prevent erosion, and increase water retention. Grazing management (Olopololi), stone lines, and, most importantly, water bund interventions are being practiced in the community. These interventions are especially helpful in retaining rainwater, allowing it to seep into the soil rather than being washed away. Grass seed banks are also being constructed on the ranch, after an initial pilot study was conducted in the Moilo area wherein 15 acres of pastureland was fenced off to serve the local community. As part of the East African Hydrologic Corridor, a total of 150,000 semi-circular bunds – or ‘rainwater harvesting bunds’ – and 5 grass seed banks are being dug. This will contribute to the regreening of 1077 ha of degraded land and the restoration of vegetation across the Kuku Group Ranch.

This project is providing local communities with employment, as many local Maasai are involved in the digging of bunds and creation and management of stone lines and grass seed banks. This has provided many Maasai families with a source of income and has enabled them to send their children to school. The 5 grass seed banks are currently managed and maintained by ~90 Maasai women. These women are responsible for growing, harvesting, and selling the grass/hay seeds of these banks, providing an additional economic opportunity for the community. The grasses create a green oasis on degraded pasturelands, and surplus hay can be harvested and used as fodder for livestock in dry seasons. Furthermore, as part of the grazing management plan designed collaboratively by Justdiggit, the Maasai, and local partners, community rangers were hired to guard restored areas and the surrounding lands. This has provided additional opportunities for the local community. 

If you want to learn more about the interventions you have seen practiced in these videos, check out the intervention pages for Grazing Management, Stone Lines, Grass Seed Banks, and Semi-Circular Bunds!

Location: Kuku, Kajiado County, Kenya

Alley Cropping

Similar names: Alley farming, intercropping, farming with shading trees, Nalaad (Philippine)

INTRODUCTION

Alley cropping is an agroforestry technique that involves planting crops between hedgerows of trees and shrubs. Tree-crop combinations are used to solve soil erosion problems by slowing water runoff and increasing its infiltration rate. Trees also provide very effective protection for crops against strong winds, can serve as wildlife habitat, and attract pollinators. Hedgerows can be tailored to the farmer’s needs and serve as crop facilitators or as a source of fodder, food, firewood, mulching material, or as an additional source of income.

This technique can be applied on a large scale, increasing the distance between the alleys and allowing for the use of big machinery, but can also be applied on a small scale, where a hedgerow surrounding the field or farm area may be all that is possible, instead of complete alleys.

  • Maintenance: the bunds need annual build-up and maintenance: the grass strips require trimming to keep them dense and low to prevent them from burning during the dry season.
  • This intervention requires more work than Fanya chini.
  • A small loss of agricultural land will be inevitable for the construction of the trenches. However, this can be limited by integrating vegetative measures such as growing grasses or trees which can be used for fodder in-between the trenches.
  • Controlled grazing: grazing should be well managed and controlled so as not to damage the structure. See the “grazing management” intervention for more details on how to do this.

Material required

  • Hoe (Jembe) or shovel
  • Pickaxe (for hard soils)
  • Ox-drawn plough or excavating machinery for a more efficient excavation
  • Wooden triangular right-angle frame (or something to measure 90-degree angles)
  • To measure the contour line, here are some examples of tools that could be used:
    • a string line level or spirit level instrument, a hose pipe half filled with water, a bottle of water half filled with water, A-frame level. You can also ask a person who is acquainted with measuring levels (such as a masonry worker) which tool they use, and you can use the same approach to measure your land.

Steps of implementation

  1. The preferred distance between the terraces depends on the slope and soil depth. The earth bunds are built by digging a trench typically 50-60 cm deep and 60 cm wide, and by relocating soil upslope to form the bund. 
  2. It is recommended to include cross-ties every 10 m; small amounts of soil that are at a 90-degree angle to the bunds and prevent water run-off from catching speed along the earth bunds. 
  3. This intervention is also characterized by the presence of a small ledge between the ditch and the bund to prevent soil from sliding back. 
  4. The bunds are often stabilized with fodder grass to improve soil trap and water infiltration. 

Even though, from a technical point of view, the techniques of Fanya juu and Fanya chini are very similar, Fanya juu requires more work than Fanya chini. Over time, Fanya juu terraces can evolve into level bench terraces due to tillage or soil erosion. 

Considerations for application

  • Maintenance: the bunds need annual build-up and maintenance: the grass strips require trimming to keep them dense and low to prevent them from burning during the dry season.
  • This intervention requires more work than Fanya chini.
  • A small loss of agricultural land will be inevitable for the construction of the trenches. However, this can be limited by integrating vegetative measures such as growing grasses or trees which can be used for fodder in between the trenches. 
  • Controlled grazing: grazing should be well managed and controlled so as not to damage the structure. See the “grazing management” intervention for more details on how to do this.

This intervention contributes to:

Estimation of costs and benefits of the intervention in Kenya

Establishment cost US $320/ha (including labor and equipment costs)
Labor time 90 person-days/ha
Maintenance cost US $30/ha/year (including labor costs)
Maintenance labor time 10 person-days/ha/year
Benefits Increased crop yield by 25%

Source

1. Fanya juu terraces in Kenya 

Description
The Fanya juu terraces are terrace bunds in association with a ditch, along the contour or on a gentle lateral gradient. Soil is thrown on the upper side of the ditch to form the bund, which is often stabilised by planting fodder grass. The project in Kenya comprises embankments (bunds), which are constructed by digging ditches and heaping the soil on the upper sides to form the bunds. The purpose of the fanya juu is to prevent loss of soil and water, and thereby to improve conditions for plant growth. The bund created is usually stabilised with strips of grass, often napier (Pennisetum purpureum), or makarikari (Panicum coloratum var. makarikariensis) in the drier zones. These grasses serve a further purpose, namely as fodder for livestock. As a supportive and supplementary agroforestry measure, fruit or multipurpose trees may be planted immediately above the embankment (eg citrus or Grevillea robusta), or in the ditch below in drier areas (eg bananas or pawpaws), where runoff tends to concentrate.

2. Fanya juu application in Ethiopia

Description
In the northwestern highlands of Ethiopia, farmers face challenges like water-logging, soil degradation, and decreased water productivity due to traditional ploughing methods. To address these issues, a study was conducted to compare the effects of two tillage practices: winged subsoiler and traditional ploughing. The experiment, conducted over two cropping seasons, found that the winged subsoiler allowed for deeper tillage compared to traditional ploughing. Although the traditional method had slightly higher dry bulk density, the winged subsoiler showed better results overall. One significant finding was the difference in soil moisture content between the upper and lower sides of the fields under traditional ploughing. This difference wasn't observed in the winged subsoiler-treated fields. In terms of water infiltration, the winged subsoiler-treated plots showed higher rates compared to traditional ploughing. Additionally, soil evaporation was lower in the winged subsoiler-treated plots. Overall, integrating the winged subsoiler with Fanya juu, a conservation practice, proved effective for sustainable soil and water management in the region. This study highlights the importance of adopting alternative tillage practices to address soil and water challenges faced by smallholder farmers in Ethiopia's northwestern highlands.

3. Fanya juu application to increase crop yields, Tanzania

Description
In the dry areas of Same District, Tanzania, farmers are using different methods to take care of their land and water. They're doing things like making bench terraces, double digging, and a technique called Fanya juu. Researchers wanted to see how well these methods work to help farmers grow more food and keep their land healthy. They talked to farmers, looked at past studies, and went out into the fields to see what was happening. What they found was pretty cool! When farmers used these methods correctly, they grew more crops, stopped the soil from washing away, and kept more water in the ground. In the hilly areas, bench terraces and Fanya juu were especially helpful for growing crops. And in the lower areas, double-digging worked well. In some cases, maize production doubled from 8 bags to 18 bags per acre after farmers started using double-digging. Overall, the study showed that these soil and water conservation methods make a big difference in how much food farmers can grow. They're not just good for the land—they also help make life better for the people who live there. The researchers think these methods could help farmers in other dry areas too.

Guide

  • A very good step-by-step is provided by Justdiggit; you can find it here.

Video

  • Watch this amazing video from Justdiggit to know more about Fanya juu.

NOTE: This method works particularly well in humid and semi-humid regions but should be well planned in dry areas, as hedgerows can compete with crops for soil moisture.

Source

METHOD OF APPLICATION

The first step is to determine which species to plant in the hedgerows and as a crop. There are different possible combinations, but it is important to keep in mind the desired function of the hedgerows and the suitability of environmental conditions.

On flatlands to gentle slopes, hedgerows are usually put 2 to 6 m apart. On steeper slopes, the hedgerows should be about 2m apart and placed along the contour of the land (perpendicular to the slope). The distance between each tree should be 5 to 10 cm apart to be able to capture the eroded material. On such steep slopes it is possible to plant temporary stakes in the ground near the seedlings to form barriers that control soil erosion whilst waiting for the trees to have grown enough.

Different measures can be taken to obtain the desired effects:

  • To prevent soil erosion: hedgerows should be planted perpendicular to the slope
  • Shade: especially on low slopes, the orientation of hedgerows can be adjusted according to the desired amount of shade. Moreover, when they grow too tall, trees can be pruned or thinned, and the extra material can be used as mulch, fodder or fuelwood.
  • Windbreak: trees should be arranged perpendicular to the wind direction
  • Soil fertilisation: leguminous trees and other nitrogen fixing species should be planted to increase the amount of nitrogen in the soil
  • To act as a biodiversity corridor: place the hedgerows so as to connect two nature areas (such as two forests). The hedgerows can be enriched with flowers to stimulate pollinators and have dense vegetation, to shelter small wildlife.

The most common crops grown in tree-crop systems are maize, soybean, wheat, groundnut, coffee and cacao. However, the chosen vegetation should be adapted to the environmental conditions of the area and can also be gradually adapted to best face climatic changes.

For a more detailed description of the method of application, please read this document.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS

Advantages

  • Reduced water runoff and soil erosion
  • Increased water infiltration rates
  • Improved crop performance – yields?
  • Increased provision of organic matter
  • Minimised nitrogen leaching
  • Can be combined with the use of machinery when applied on a larger scale
  • Can be applied at multiple scales
  • Promotion of biodiversity through…
  • Diversified source of income

Conditions

  • Assisted Natural Regeneration is a more effective and cheap way to grow trees, especially if you live in very dry areas.
  • If you want to plant trees, before doing so, it is fundamental to make sure all the conditions essential for tree growth are present (such as a soil depth of at least 1.5 metres). If you are not sure these conditions apply to your land, ask an extension officer in your region or someone who has experience with growing trees in the area.
  • If you are renting the land, make sure with the owner agrees with the presence of trees.
  • Importance of weeding: in the initial stages of tree growing weeding must be done to maintain the intervention in the initial stages of tree growth.
  • Tree planting can be expensive if there is no nursery available (depends on the species that want to be planted): good quality seed availability or access to a tree nursery is thus important
  • This intervention requires special management; hence, an optimal selection of planted species must be made in drier areas so as to prevent competition for moisture between hedgerows and crops.
  • Allelopathy between species should be considered: some species release chemical substances which have negative impacts on other plants and can inhibit their growth
  • In temperate regions, the majority of trees are used for biomass production, whether in subtropics and tropics, trees are mainly used for food, fodder and crop facilitation.

CASE STUDIES

China:
Alley cropping can be used in combination with other interventions such as terracing. Click here to know more about it.

France:
Alley cropping can also be practiced with the help of machinery. Click here to know more about it.

Benin:
An example of alley cropping in dry areas can be found here.

Jamaica:
Alley cropping can result in a very effective way to slow soil erosion and increase yield. A very good example can be found here.

USEFUL LINKS
Click here for free Webinars about alley cropping.

INTRODUCTION

Alley cropping is an agroforestry technique that involves planting crops between hedgerows of trees and shrubs. Tree-crop combinations are used to solve soil erosion problems by slowing water runoff and increasing its infiltration rate. Trees also provide very effective protection for crops against strong winds, can serve as wildlife habitat, and attract pollinators. Hedgerows can be tailored to the farmer’s needs and serve as crop facilitators or as a source of fodder, food, firewood, mulching material, or as an additional source of income.

This technique can be applied on a large scale, increasing the distance between the alleys and allowing for the use of big machinery, but can also be applied on a small scale, where a hedgerow surrounding the field or farm area may be all that is possible, instead of complete alleys.

NOTE: This method works particularly well in humid and semi-humid regions but should be well planned in dry areas, as hedgerows can compete with crops for soil moisture.

Materials required

  1. shovel
  2. tubing
  3. manure
  4. seedlings