Help Tanzanian Farmers Get Water!

Talk to any farmer in Africa and she will tell you that the rains are increasingly unpredictable. They rarely follow normal patterns, droughts are increasing in frequency and intensity, and when it does rain it comes in torrents, washing away crops and flooding villages. These factors make it more challenging than ever to grow food, even as the land itself becomes increasingly infertile from unsustainable agricultural practices.

Stories of drought in Africa are all too familiar, and it is one that farmers in our Forest Garden Projects in Tanzania are once again telling. Over the past few months your support has allowed us to purchase and deliver 156 50-gallon water barrels to help 488 families collect and store water to grow trees. It has also helped us to subsidize water costs for farmers’ tree nurseries, as water scarcity has led to fees for water usage in the area. Unfortunately the rains still have not come. Without rains they can’t plant the trees, as they will not survive the harsh, dry climate in their fields, and it is too laborious and wasteful to irrigate seedlings outside of the nurseries. The water barrels have allowed them to continue caring for seedlings in the nurseries, however. TREES’ technicians have worked with farmers to prune the leaves and roots of the young seedlings, which help them to conserve water so they can plant them when the next rainy season does arrive, expected in March.

TREES’ Forest Garden Project is continuing despite the drought in Tanzania. Farmers are currently learning to raise diverse vegetables in permagardens, to provide a variety of foods to eat and sell while they wait in hope for rains to return. When they do, TREES will encourage farmers to double down in planting trees and other perennial crops following the Forest Garden Approach. The various species of trees and plants in Forest Gardens protect and fertilize their soils, and provide farmers with something to eat, sell, or trade every day of the year. The fruit trees, timber trees, and other perennial crops that farmers plant are far more resistant to drought than are annual crops. Their deep roots access water far below the surface; their branches shade the soil and reduce surface temperatures, helping to preserve moisture; the leaves they drop help to mulch, protect, and fertilize the soil; they continue to grow and produce long after annual crops have withered and died. Though droughts certainly still take their toll, families who have established Forest Gardens are far less vulnerable to drought, and they are better protected from the floods that often follow drought conditions.

On behalf of the 3,904 women, men, and children benefitting directly from our Forest Garden Projects in Tanzania, we thank you for your support. The rains will come again, and when they do, these families will continue to use the water barrels you donated to continue establishing Forest Gardens to increase food security, income, and resilience in the face of an increasingly erratic climate.

Links:

• http://www.trees.org