Rainfed farmers facing deforestation

As scientists have been warning us and local elderly have been telling us, the increasing rate of deforestation is reducing the rains small-scale farmers rely on to grow their crops. And once the rains come, they often come at unexpected times and often in extreme strengths, washing away our soils and roads.

Hence, rainfed farmers find themselves in a tough position: should they clear more land hoping to create more space for more crops, so there is a little surplus that can help them overcome such issues, or should they keep more trees, and find ways to grow food in the forest? Although the latter option is very uncommon, we try to find ways to make this work.

To do so, we:

• find out which local trees actually work as nitrogen fixers, have mulching powers and/or keep water near the roots of the crops grown underneath
• identify perennial plants that do not require much sun or water
• research which plant – tree – animal combinations work best
• find out which annual plants stand a good chance of doing fine in a forest situation
• develop a manual for forest farmers, enabling them to make a well-informed guess about future profits they may secure by trying new ways of forest farming

In addition, we look into ways to harvest more rainwater, for instance by filling up underground aquifers using swales. For more information, please check our section on water