This charity project empowers rural farming communities to diversify their crops by planting organic, native fruit trees. The High Atlas Foundation supports community nurseries in Morocco's four bio-zones to raise and transplant the trees with farming families, cooperatives, and education centers. HAF monitors the trees and also trains farmers to do so to ensure success and generate carbon offset credits. Donate now to plant trees and monitor carbon with Moroccan farming communities!
Agriculture is crucial to Morocco's economy (31% of labor and 12% of GDP) and is the main source of employment for 85% of people living in rural communities. However, rural people earn income below the national average (with 12.7% living below the international poverty line). A worsening climate crisis has exacerbated agricultural problems from drought, erosion, and desertification. These impacts must be mitigated with sustainable agricultural solutions that also raise income.
Tree nurseries are valuable for rural communities. Farmers can generate greater, more stable income by switching from grain cultivation to fruit trees. Trees distributed from these nurseries are monitored for growth and survival, with estimates of carbon in the tree and surrounding soil verified and sold as voluntary carbon offset credits. Training community members (including women and youth) to keep track of the trees substantially increases the impact on economic and environmental stability.
HAF's community nurseries raise 14 varieties of endemic fruit trees. By employing organic growing techniques and smart water practices, HAF helps to protect biodiversity, restore degraded land, combat desertification, and promote healthy carbon cycles. Farmers retain all revenue from their orchards' yields, and proceeds from the sale of carbon offsets expand their economic options beyond the single pathway of intensive grain production as well as elevating their environmental stewardship.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
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