The Benefits of Agroforestry Projects around Lake Tanganyika

Agroforestry projects provide a great deal of benefit to the region, including food security, income from crop production, and long-term timber income.

Agroforestry projects provide food security for African communities. By combining trees with crops and animals, agroforestry offers a more diverse, nutritious diet than monoculture farming. Agroforestry also helps increase soil fertility and reduce water loss, which leads to increased crop yields and higher incomes.

Agroforestry can also help protect against climate change. Trees planted on farms can help regulate temperatures and reduce the amount of water lost through evapotranspiration. This can help reduce the risk of drought and other extreme weather events, which can severely impact crop yields.

Furthermore, agroforestry can help preserve biodiversity, which is essential for the health of the environment. By increasing the variety of plants and animals in the area, agroforestry can help maintain a healthy ecosystem.

Agroforestry projects can also provide an income from crop production. By planting trees alongside crops, farmers can get multiple harvests from the same land. This can lead to increased income for farmers, as well as improved nutrition for the community. Agroforestry also helps protect farmers from market fluctuations. By diversifying their income through multiple sources, farmers are less vulnerable to changes in prices, weather, and disease.

Agroforestry projects also help to reduce deforestation, as well as create habitat for wildlife.

Agroforestry projects by FOLT

In 2020, FOLT started to consult with farmers in the Katumbi-region near Lake Tanganyika on the implementation of the forest garden concept. One of the main reasons for starting this project, was to fight one of the main drivers of deforestation in the region: depletion of soil. By planting food trees and timber surrounded by bund trees, soil is protected, food produced and income generated. Funded by diverse tree planting organisations, FOLT has been able to plant several millions trees since 2020 with the help of WeForest and VNV Advisory, and we aim to plant much more in the coming years!

Conclusion

Agroforestry projects offer a great deal of benefits to the region, by providing food security, income from crop production, and long-term timber income. By planting trees alongside crops, farmers get multiple harvests from the same land. This leads to increased income for farmers, as well as improved nutrition for the community. Additionally, it decreases deforestation by taking better care of the precious soil. Agroforestry also helps protect farmers from market fluctuations and reduce the risk of extreme weather events. Therefore, agroforestry projects are an important tool for improving the lives of millions of smallholder farmers that live around Lake Tanganyika.

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