The forestry and vegetation in Somaliland consists chiefly of coarse grass, and stunted thorn and acacia trees. Severe deforestation was caused by illegal tree cutting and Charcoal production, which affect unimaginably. Charcoal plays an important role in both the energy sectors and the economies of most African countries. Charcoal making provides a considerable amount of employment in rural areas; it also allows for a quick return on investments. However, the inefficiencies inherent to the production and use of charcoal place a heavy strain on local wood resources, resulting severe environmental consequences. In many parts of the world, the use of charcoal has been blamed for deforestation. Deforestation in the drier parts of Africa has led to an even worse problem and the loss of thousands of species. Deforestation is the product of the interaction of many environmental, social, political, economic and cultural forces at work in any given region.
Though most of these activities are done for life earning purpose and for life purpose, they use it for cooking, warming, housing and many other purposes.
Environmental degradation is one of the main contributing factors to food insecurity, increasing poverty and climate change in the Somaliland. Therefore, GSI has decided to launch Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) awareness raising and capacity trainings in four regions Mogadishu, Mudug, Marodi-jeex, Awdal which is aimed to empower and raise the awareness of youth and gender to combat climate crisis and regenerate indigenous plants species. GSI covered a series of core capacity building train sessions for youth and gender.
2.0 Training Objectives:
4.1. Opening Session.
The training was opened by Mustafa Abdo – Managing Director. He made a few remarks and encouraged community to fully participate for the furtherance their knowledge on FMNR and Management of such kind. He also thanked them for their commitments despites numerous individual tasks to handle, on which they sacrificed to attend the training.
The facilitator start the training by an introduction of FMNR concept to the staff. Whereby he showed the staff some videos about the history of FMNR and where it begun from the first time.
FMNR isn’t new. It has been practiced in one form or another for centuries in various parts of the world. We regularly come across individuals and farming communities around the world who have devised a form of FMNR through their own intuition and experimentation without external influences.
What is different now is that it’s not just a great technique – it is a ‘movement’ as well.
The origins of this ‘movement’ are in Niger Republic in the early 1980’s. Tony Rinaudo started this concept for the first time ever in Niger. Once he was talked about it, he explains as follows:
“I had been struggling to convince villagers in the Maradi region to plant trees. Our conventional tree planting approach was a failure. The conditions were too harsh and farmers weren’t interested. I had tried every best practice that I knew of but with very little impact.
One day I was delivering a trailer load of trees to a village. On the way I stopped to adjust the air pressure. As I looked out across the landscape and I knew it was impossible – even with millions of dollars, many years of effort and a large labour force, I knew I wouldn’t have an impact at this rate.
At that point I saw for the first time what I had been seeing for three years without seeing: hundreds of insignificant desert bushes strewn across the farmland. On closer investigation I realized that they were not bushes at all – but indigenous trees which had been felled, but were re-growing from the stumps.
Each year as a part of routine farmland preparation for sowing, this regrowth would be slashed and burnt. So the ‘trees’ would always appear as bushes or just remain invisible immediately after slashing.
At that moment, everything changed and I knew that the ability of trees to grow from existing stumps, roots and seeds was the solution. It was not primarily a technical problem of how and when and what tree to plant – it was more a social and legal problem of why people cut down trees in the first place, why they preferred to have a barren farm with no trees and what laws were in place which acted as disincentives to leave trees on private land.
Over the next 20 years the practice of FMNR spread from farmer to farmer to over 5 million hectares, equating to around 200 million trees. Tree density rose from 4 trees per hectare in 1984 to over 40 in 2004 and the ‘norm’ changed from clear fields to dirty fields with a scattering of trees.”
The current movement originated in Niger but there are movements in other countries too. For example:
Within World Agroforestry operational areas FMNR is practiced in 15 African and 5 Asian countries and spreading. The World Agroforestry Centre, Africa re-greening initiative, Africa forest forum, and many NGOs are promoting FMNR vigorously.
There are indigenous movements in Mali, Malawi and other places which seem to be spontaneous and independent of external influence.
In April 2012 World Agroforestry Centre hosted an FMNR international conference in Nairobi. From that one event governments in the East Africa region have begun to include FMNR in their annual plans and activities.
Other NGOs have begun teaching FMNR in their training courses. Many individuals and NGOs have begun promoting and practicing FMNR at various scales.
At its core, FMNR is about empowering people. It’s about giving them the knowledge and skills they need to sustainably manage their environment. It’s about facilitating the creation of an enabling policy, and social and economic frameworks so that people are free to do the work, secure in the knowledge that they will benefit from it.
In development speak, this would mean:
Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) is a rapid, low cost and easily replicated approach to restoring and improving agricultural, forested and pasture lands. FMNR is based on encouraging the systematic re-growth of existing trees or self-sown seeds. It can be used wherever there are living tree stumps with the ability to coppice (re-sprout) or seeds in the soil that can germinate. Vast areas of land around the world, particularly in the tropics and semi-arid tropics, still have coppicing tree trunks, roots, and seeds in the ground from which there is the potential for FMNR.
The Facilitator elaborated the project staff and stakeholders the principles of FMNR which are as follows:
Some different objectives of FMNR include:
Your objectives will guide the selection of species to prune. Also use your objectives and field conditions to help choose
FMNR has too many benefits to list here, but we have summarized a few important ones in the table below:
| Economic benefits | Social benefits | Environmental benefits |
| · Increased crop yields (often double or triple)
· Increased fodder from edible leaves and seed pods, and in some cases increased pasture growth · Higher livestock productivity and survival · Reduced impact from floods and drought – trees provide alternative income and livelihood sources making impacts less severe and recovery faster · Increased income generation through diversification (e.g. timber and fuel wood) and intensification of activities · Economic flow-on effects such as employment and greater purchasing capacity · Increased economic activity creates opportunities, e.g. development of new business models such as cooperatives |
· Increased food security and nutrition (including native fruits, nuts and seeds)
· Less distance for women and children to travel to collect firewood · Community capacity building to deal with local, regional and national governments and regulators · Improved governance through clarification of tree ownership laws and regulations · Education and training in farming and marketing · Reduced need for migration by young people and men to cities · Higher incomes result in better opportunities for medical treatment, children’s education, nutrition and clothing, etc. · Empowerment for community members to live independently with hope for the future |
· Reduced erosion
· Reduced soil-moisture evaporation due to wind breaks shading and mulching · Increased soil fertility · Improved soil structure through greater quantities of organic matter · Increased water infiltration and groundwater recharge · Increased biodiversity, environmental restoration and tree cover · Enhanced resilience to climate change |
Let’s now consider the Benefits from the perspective of the children in these communities. What is the impact of FMNR on household food security and child well-being?
5.1. FMNR step-by-step:
Step 1.
Survey your farm. How many species of trees are present? Can you identify sprouting tree stumps and seedlings?
Step 2.
Select the sprouting stumps that will be used for regeneration.
Step 3.
For each stump, select 3 to 5 stems to keep.
Multiple stems are sprouting from this tree stump (left). In this case the three tallest, straightest, most vigorous stems, and will cut out the small ones, the crooked ones and the weak ones.
Prune and tag them with a colored rag or paint
Step 4.
Cull the rest of the stems. Prune of the side branches of the remaining stems to half way up the trunk.
If there is continuous presence of grazing animals, pruned thorny side branches can be tied around the remaining stems in order to protect them from browsing. Where possible, cut upwards with a sharp tool.
If the farmland is individually owned, then FMNR is best managed by the farm owner. But if the it is a communal land, then the whole community should jointly manage FMNR.
With a little training, women and men, boys and girls, farmers and herders can practice this simple activity. It really depends on the community, the culture and who owns the trees and/or who has the right to utilize them. In Tanzania, individuals joined small groups and applied for land user rights for parcels of land which they work on together.
How does community management work?
There needs to be a structure to
This can be done through traditional authority roles or new structures like cooperatives.
Who is involved? Everyone can participate. With a little training, women and men, boys and girls, farmers and herders can practice this simple activity.
The facilitator explained the staff and stakeholders that there are very few basic rules to FMNR. In practice, each farmer adapts this system of agroforestry to his or her own needs and situation. Different tree species may require different pruning techniques, something that can be determined by experimentation and observation.
After pruning, new branches and stems will emerge. It is best to prune every 2 to 6 months. This stimulates faster growth and produces straighter stems.
The best implement to use is a saw or secateurs, because they provide a clean cut. However, few farmers in developing countries can afford to buy them.
In fact, a wide range of commonly owned tools can be used, including axe, machete, harvesting knife and even hoe.
Rule 1.
The main requirements are that the tools be sharp. Ideally a handsaw should be used for pruning side branches of young shoots. However, most they must use what they have on hand, usually an axe or machete. Simple rules of pruning are: machete; and b) always cut upwards, carefully. Farmers do not own a saw and a) always sharpen your axe.
Rule 2.
Cut upwards, not downwards. When cuts are made downwards, the tree can be easily damaged through splitting or the bark may be stripped from the stem. Excessive damage will set back the plant’s ability to regrow and may become an entry point for disease and insects. Cutting upwards means there will be less damage and the tree will re-grow faster. It also reduces likelihood of disease and insects going into the wound (where the tree has been cut).
Rule 3.
Don’t prune stems too high. Stems should be pruned up to half way up the trunk while small. Otherwise they can be broken by livestock or strong winds. If too many side branches are pruned from the main stem it may be easily broken by livestock or strong winds. Ideally, stems should be pruned up to half way up the trunk while small, and up to two-thirds of the way up, once they are over 2 m tall.
FMNR can be practiced anytime – but often, farmers practice it in the dry season when labour is more plentifully available. Also, insect and disease attack may be less likely in the dry season.
Different tree species may require different pruning techniques, something that can be determined by farmer experimentation and observation.
The Facilitator explained the FMNR that they will be more successful if they work with the community on protecting the trees.
Other people in thr community need to know what you are doing and why. That way there can be arrangements that respect each other’s rights.
Where possible, include Forestry and Agriculture Department extension staff and local authorities in planning and decision-making on FMNR.
You need to work with ALL groups that normally have access to grazing areas. Nomadic herders may think that reforestation means they won’t have access anymore. Take time to involve them and explain benefits.
Considerable effort needs to first go into gaining community consensus and collaboration before promoting FMNR, otherwise, trees may be destroyed.
FMNR re-growth is hardier than transplanted seedlings, and reforestation using FMNR has succeeded even without excluding livestock.
Where possible, exclude livestock from areas where FMNR is being implemented for 6 months to a year. This gives the trees a chance to become tall and strong enough to withstand grazing pressure.
If you can’t exclude livestock, don’t let that stop you. There are ways to protect your trees. Consider these:
FMNR is a proven method of rapid reforestation, but you need to exercise caution when introducing it. What works elsewhere may not work in your community.
Certain annual crops may be more sensitive to competition or shading. Some tree species may suppress crop growth or be very competitive for scarce water or nutrient resources.
Start by encouraging farmers to try FMNR on a small area initially and work out what practices (e.g. which species, how many trees to manage, their spacing, how and when to prune etc.) best meet their needs.
While teaching about FMNR many people want to know the specifics on how the pruning is done, which species to use, how many stems to leave etc.
Actually, there is no set answer. FMNR is a very flexible approach to reforestation. This flexibility seems to give FMNR such universal appeal – it really is Farmer Managed!
Thus farmers have freedom of choice on how to meet their own specific needs, using the free materials at hand (species mix), responding to the specific climate and soils and crop mix and understanding at the time of implementation.
Is FMNR better than planting trees? That’s not the right question to ask. The question is not whether to plant tree or to practice FMNR but what is appropriate and cost effective for the situation.
There are times when tree planting is required, for example when a farmer wants to grow a particular tree species which may not occur naturally in the area, or when large numbers of a certain species need to be grown in rows.
So the answer can’t be a straightforward ‘yes’ or ‘no’. In some cases there may be no tree stumps left in the landscape, and tree planting may be the speediest and most appropriate way of establishing trees initially.
Let’s look at large scale tree planting schemes first. Then we’ll consider other factors that farmers will want to take into account when making the decision whether to apply FMNR or to plant trees or do both.
The facilitator extensively elaborated the project staff the reasons that Large scale tree planting schemes often failed or have not been continued by a community after the ‘project’ has ended.
Some of the reasons are:
This can be a costly exercise in terms of money and labor and results are very variable and often extremely poor particularly in difficult climates. Trees can be damaged or stressed in transport. In most instances there are no fences to protect newly planted trees from wildlife and livestock which can inflict high casualty rates.
By contrast, FMNR is very cheap, rapid and replicable without ongoing external or government support. In Niger Republic for example – over a twenty year period – FMNR has spread to over five million hectares of farmland. It has spread largely by word of mouth, from farmer to farmer.
FMNR is possible wherever there are living tree stumps or roots with the ability to coppice (re-sprout) or seeds in the soil that can germinate.
Once adopted by a population FMNR can spread very rapidly from one farmer to the next because of its ease of adoption, low cost and lack of dependence on external resources or expertise.
In one study, the cost of FMNR implementation per hectare was $4 compared to $150 or more per hectare for tree planting.
Young Acacia tortiiis plants tend to grow in a spread-out shape, close to the ground when they are frequently browsed by livestock or when they regrow from the Stumps of previously felled trees. In this stunted form, it may take many years before a plant is able to escape the reach of animals and become a full, productive tree, if it ever happens at all. Fortunately, since those plants may be many years old, they often have strong root systems that are ready to support much larger plants above ground.
By encouraging these plants to grow upward, we help them escape the reach of livestock and ensure that they maximize their growth potential.
FMNR usually Involves pruning small shrub-like trees, and re-sprouted stumps so that growth is focused into one or two upward growing trunks, instead of spreading out their growth among several low-lying branches. This helps the plants escape the reach of domestic and wild herbivores, which tend to suppress their growth into Shrub-like form, Pruning in this way usually results in rapid upward growth because stunted plants often have mature root systems, despite appearing small above ground. Some tree species have even grown 2-3 meters in the first year.
Like many arid-land species* Acacia tortilis often grows as a small shrub when it is over-browed by sheep and goats, improperly cut by humans, or exposed to harsh environmental conditions.
In areas like Baki, Somaliland, where people are concerned about the decline of larger Acacia trees, there may be hundreds of stunted, shrub-like Acacias per hectare, waiting to be transformed into trees, If such communities adopt the techniques described here, they may be able to rapidly Increase the number of Acacia tortilis trees on their landscapes at little-to-no cost.
The single most important step in transforming shrub-like Acacias into trees is to correct the direction of branch growth upward. Unlike many other tree species, smaller Acacia tortiiis plants are especially susceptible to disease and should NOT be pruned while they are in shrub form.
Only diseased and dead branches should be removed before the plant is at least two meters tall. Instead, the branches of Acacia shrubs can be tied together, propped with large stones or staked with sticks so that all of the branches grow vertically.
This reverses the pattern of suppression. Instead of damage by livestock and people driving the plant downwards to grow horizontally, those same forces will now encourage more upward growth. The leaves of a tied Acacia are also better protected because the thorns become more densely packed when the branches are closer together.
Eventually, the plant will grow high enough to escape the reach of animals all-together, at that point it should be free to grow tall and provide continuous benefits to people and wildlife.
Choose a long lasting material to tie the plants. 2-6mm plastic string is low cost, readily available and should last about a year or two, which should be long enough for the branches to stay upright. Natural fiber strings may be used, however goats have been known to chew on these when they get the chance. Bear in mind how long it will take for the material to degrade in sunlight.
Avoid using metal wire, unless you are confident that someone will remove it when the tree grows larger (wire can eventually strangle a tree as it grows).
When in doubt, use whatever is available: pieces of cloth, electrical wiring, plant-fiber ropes, shoelaces, and even the plant’s own branches have been used.
5.7.3. Propping with stones.
Younger Acacias can be simply propped up with a few large stones. This takes about a minute to do and costs nothing.
Notice that before it was propped, animals forced the plant (above) to grow sideways by eating from the top. But now goats and sheep will eat the leaves from the side, forcing the plant to grow upwards. In addition, the inner branches are now protected by the outer ones.