GREEN CROSS BURKINA FASO & GREEN CROSS JAPAN
TREE PLANTING PROJECT
1999 - 2000 CAMPAIGN
(Implementation Report Covering the period from July to September 1999)
" IWASAKI Campaign, Hope for the Sahel "
September 1999
INTRODUCTION
The Tree Planting Project (TPP), since its launching, is intended to be a key component of the program of Green Cross Burkina Faso and Green Cross Japan in their fight against desertification in a Sahelian country, Burkina Faso. The results obtained so far undoubtedly constitute highly valuable quantitative and qualitative achievements. However, they only represent intermediate results, for, with respect to the fight against desertification in general and particularly tree planting, the objective is expressed in terms of setting the tree at the center of the concerns of populations of affected areas, which must lead to its preservation, its protection, and which will eventually lead to its natural regeneration; such objectives are necessarily viewed as long term objectives.
The present report deals with the activities related to the preparation and above all the implementation of the on-going campaign. It covers the period from July to September 1999. It analyses the main difficulties encountered in the implementation of the project, points out the elements of success and their sources, opens up to perspectives for the continuation of the program.
I- Reminder on the objectives for the 1999-2000 campaign
A- Quantitative objectives
The global quantitative objectives are presented in table 1 below:
Table 1: Quantitative objectives for the present campaign
TREE SPECIES
COMOE
KADIOGO
YATENGA
TOTAL
Bounouna
Kossara
Kienfangué
Boassa
Rikou
Sambtinga
Yabonsgo
Azadirachta
indica
2000
500
3 000
Anacadium
occidentale
5 000
8 000
Eucalyptus
camaldulensis
1 500
2 000
3 500
19 000
Leucena
leucocephala
2 500
6 500
3000
6 000
35000
B- Qualitative objectives
The results of tree planting, in order to be sustainable, should be profoundly based on qualitative objectives. The qualitative objectives are expressed in terms of the emergence of a new awareness towards the restoration of what existed before and has disappeared today as a result of the combination of a number of factors deriving from our relationship with our environment. Tree planting campaigns are therefore didactic campaigns through which we strive to raise people awareness about the disaster that the loss of trees represents. Thus, trees are planted, not to replace those that have been cut down or have disappeared because of the changing ecological conditions. Tree planting should become a didactic action intended to educate people about the protection and management of the environment in order to permit its self-regeneration.
II- Progress of the campaign
A- Preparation of the campaign
1- Evaluation and preparation missions
For the purpose of evaluation and follow-up of the project, delegations were sent on missions to the different sites during the month of June 1999. They made an evaluation covering the second quarter of this year (See Activity Report from April to June 1999). Among other recommendations and perspectives, the authors of the report emphasized the need to focus more and more on the planting of tree species that have a recognized utility for populations and that are well adapted to local environmental conditions.
2- Purchase and transport of plants
Plants are purchased at the regional level. The transport of plants to the sites is done by trucks or carts.
It should be stressed that the transport means used are harmful to young plants. Most often, there are long distances between the places where plants are produced (nurseries) and the planting sites. The rainy season causes a serious degradation of roads. As a result, vehicles transporting plants stick in the mud very often (see pictures). In that process, we have to unload and load the vehicle several times, which is very prejudicial to the survival of young plants.
B- The actual campaign
1- The extension of old sites
For the present campaign, there is a plan to plant 35 000 trees in the three regions according to the breakdown shown in table 1. The extension of old sites is meant to strengthen the presence of Green Cross Burkina Faso in those areas. This extension starts after the replacement of dead plants. This year, a surface of more than 60 hectars is covered.
a)- Ploughing
This technique has been implemented on our sites for the first time during the 1997-1998 campaign. It increases the capacity of the soil to retain water, which constitutes a favorable factor for a rapid growth of plants (see Pictures 2a and 2b). However, it is an expensive technique. The high cost of ploughing is due to the fact that demand is higher than supply. Agricultural machines, especially tractors are still rare whereas the interest for ploughing is expressed by all. In fact, it is the high cost of the service of tractors that makes these machines be above the financial capacity of most people. Based on our intention to increase our operational capacities on our different sites, we wish to focus on the acquisition of agricultural tractors to be given to each of our three regions. The situation of ploughed surfaces for this campaign is shown as follows in table 2 below:
Table 2: Surfaces ploughed for the 1999 campaign
REGION
SITES
(ha)
Hectares
21.9
13
12.8
10.5
14.2
15.3
87.7
Note: ha: hectare
b)- Hole digging and tree planting
Hole digging refers to the holes made to contain the plants. In certain regions such as the South (Sudano-Sahelian reigon), it started earlier since the rainy season also started earlier in that part of the country. This activity actually started in all our regions after the official launching of the tree planting campaign at the national level by the Minister of State, Minister of Environment and Water. From that moment, delegations of GCBF which went on regular missions to the field for the preparation of the campaign followed the progress of the activity. Pictures 3a and 3b on the one hand, and 4a, 4b and 4c on the other hand, cover this stage of the campaign.
Table 3: Situation of tree planting for the 1999-2000 campaign
Sites
Previsions (units)
Accomplished (units)
Execution Rate (%)
100
6 600
110
7 100
118.3
35 000
36 700
104.8
NB : Figures tabulated on 8 September 1999
2- Creation of new sites
The creation of new sites derives from the intention of GCBF to extend its sites network through all provinces of the country. In provinces and villages where we are present, we receive several requests from other villages that wish to join the Green Cross network. By postponing the extension of our intervention zone, we run the risk of weakening the motivation of people who wish to be the relay of our action on the ground. This is the reason why this year we undertook the extension to other villages close to two of our sites in the Yatenga, that is, Lougouri, near Sambtinga, and Cissin, near Yabonsgo. Another new site, Boassa, is created in the Kadiogo.
a)- The site of Lougouri
This village is separated from Sambtinga by the water stream named Sambra. The population of this village have been actively taking part, for two years, in Green Cross activities occurring in Sambtinga. By giving the possibility to create a site this year by providing them with 1 000 plants, a significant step is made towards getting them more involved in Green Cross activities.
b)- The site of Cissin
The people of this village have also expressed for a long time their wish to create a Green Cross association. Besides, these people have often shown solidarity to their neighbors of Yabonsgo during works done as part of Green Cross activities. 900 plants were given to them to enable them to create their site.
For those villages that received trees as the only support, an evalutation will be made later. Then, the decision to create sites or not, to provide them with working material, will depend on the degree of motivation and willingness to work in Green Cross associations, as will be revealed by the evaluation.
c)- The site of Boassa
The creation of this site is part of the objective to extend GCBF. By providing this village with 8 000 trees, a step is made towards the actual creation of this site.
III- Analysis of the progress of the campaign
A- Analysis of results achieved on the field
1. Quantitative analysis
a)- The initial previsions
For these previsions, refer to the data of table 1 on the quantitative objectives.
b)- The achievements
Table 4 below shows the results of the present campaign.
Table 4: Achievements of the 1999 campaign
2 700
300
3 135
6 135
5 700
8 700
800
6 100
3 700
21 400
Acacia
senegal
200
260
460
Parkia
bliglobosa
5
Diagram 1:Presentation of results of the 1999 tree planting campaign
We have also tried to present those results through a diagram in order to make them more expressive. We also did the same for Eucalyptus which is present on all sites from North to South.
Diagram 2: The case of Eucalyptus camaldulensis
2- Qualitative analysis
It can be said that the quantitative results obtained on the ground are satisfactory since they are higher than the initial previsions. It is by considering qualitative results that on can say that the achievements are somewhat below expectations. By observing, it is noticed for example that Leucaena leucocephala has not been planted on any site this year because it was not available in tree nurseries. This is additional reason that justifies the need to create our own nursery.
As a matter of fact, certain tree species usually planted so far should be progressively replaced by other local species. Peasants reported that at the end of the rainy season, the grass and all other plants around Eucalyptus trees are first to dry. They came to the conclusion that this tree is harmful to the soil. They therefore expressed the wish to see the tree replaced by certain local species. The choices of new plants to introduce differ from the agro-climatic regions and the comparative advantages of species. Beyond this criticism, it should still be recognized that the Eucalyptus has a great importance in a Sahelian country such as Burkina Faso. With windbreaks made by Eucalyptus plantations, this tree enables to slow down the speed of winds, and therefore, slows down the process of soil degradation due to wind. It is also used in construction works and as fuelwood. Finally, it is a plant that grows very fast (as shown by pictures 5a, 5b and 5c), which offers good exploitation possibilities in the short term.
The species that the populations wish to see introduced are the following:
- Acacia Senegal, in the Sahelian region in the North, for its economic potential in the long term and the possibility to use it as forage. However, the disadvantage with this plant is that it grows slowly. Three-year-old trees are generally less than fifty (50) centimeters high (see pictures 5a, 5b and 5c). But at the end of the third or fourth year, it can reach a height three times superior to what it was. The other species that people wish to introduce are the Azadirachta indica (neem) for its practical use (provides shade, used in construction works, etc.); the Sclerocarya birrea for its various uses, mostly for food purposes: its fruits produce a delicious juice and its kernels are eaten. Its wood and bark are used to make cosmetics and medical products. Finally, the Parkia biglobosa (néré) which has great economic and food potentials. Its fruit, the powder of néré has various uses as food supply and its grains are used for the production of ‘soumbala’, a spice used in cooking;
- Parkia biglobosa is mostly requested for the same reasons as above in the central part of the country such as Boassa;
- Borassus aethiopum (rhônier, a kind of palm tree) is unanimously requested in the Southern region. This tree does not only have great economic potentials thanks to its famous alcoholic drink ‘bandji’, but also, it is a tree on the way of disappearing, certainly because it is excessively exploited for economic purposes.
The analysis therefore reveals that there is not agreement, on the one hand between the needs expressed by populations and the objectives of Green Cross, and on the other hand between the previsions and achievements on the ground. This discordance in objectives can be explained by several factors:
B- Difficulties encountered
1- The transport of plants
This is an element whose impact on the survival of plants is not always taken into consideration because it occurs prior to tree planting. Yet, it has a critical impact on the success of tree planting. As a matter of fact, the poor transport conditions are harmful to the health of plants and determines the survival rate of planted trees. Certain species cannot bear the wind blowing on their roots. On sites, significant quantities of trees to be planted carry the marks of those defective transport condition and already show signs of a future death (Picture 6).
2- The working material (Pictures 7a and 7b)
Several years of hard work have worn out the small working material. The most telling example is about the building of anti-erosion barriers during the dry season, with the extraction, collection and above all the transportation of big stone blocks by the populations of the Sahelian region. So, it is more than urgent to renew the existing stocks of material and provide sites that have not yet received material. The material referred to essentially consists of carts, wheelbarrows, shovels, picks, digging bars, protection gloves, boots, etc.
3- Other weaknesses noticed
This year, the tree planting campaign started with a delay as compared to the previous years, due to the delay of the rainy season. With respect to the precariousness of the rainy season for example in the Northern part of the country, it is easy to image the negative impact of such a situation on the survival of planted trees.
C- Aspects of success
It is not only the surface of planted areas nor the number of trees planted that should constitute sources of satisfaction for the actors of Green Cross, peasants and others. This time, we wish to point out aspects and factors of success with respect to the very philosophy and concepts that should be at the basis of tree planting activities. Those philosophical and conceptual aspects that should in fact constitute the qualitative objectives of the combat against desertification can be assessed through the receptivity and reactions of populations with regard to the project.
1- The emergence of an ecological awareness
The criticism formulated by the populations for example against certain tree species, though they are not necessarily based on scientific analysis, constitute indicators of an awareness towards environmental issues to which people are no longer indifferent. Based on the mere observations and their inner rationality, peasants come to draw conclusions that are not necessarily deprived of scientific foundations. So, their expectation is that they wish to receive more technical and material support.
2- Other aspects of success
The success rate of tree planting on our different sites (survival of plants to pedological and climatic conditions, to attacks of termites, animals and bush fires) and the rapid growth noticed (one-year-old trees already reach a height of 2 meters at certain places), obviously constitute aspects of success, reasons for satisfaction and above all, factors of additional motivation. An evaluation conducted just before the beginning of the rainy season in all regions set the average success rate around 82% in June 1999. In fact, we realize that during the rainy season, the figure is even higher since plants recovered their leaves and other vegetative conditions (see pictures 8a and 8b). Through the representative of Green Cross office for the Sahelian region, the organization received verbal congratulations and encouragement from the provincial administrative authorities (High Commissioner) and the Minister of State, Minister of Environment and Water.
VI- Perspectives
A- The development of additional strategies
Owing to the integrated nature of environmental issues on the global level as well as on the smallest scale, it also seems necessary to integrate the intervention methods. That is why the combat against desertification, materialized by the different tree planting campaigns is associated on Green Cross sites (as far as we are concerned) to the development of strategies for the conservation of water and soil (see pictures 9a and 9b on Yatenga).
1- Sylvo-pastoral activities
This refers to most of the techniques and operations whose final goal is the construction of devices in order to fight against the loss of soils fertility and increase agricultural productivity. Those strategies, known as strategies for water and soil conservation, have been developed and practiced by peasants of the Sahel (especially in the Yatenga in Burkina Faso) for several decades. By applying them on our sites, we want to acknowledge and praise these peasant strategies for their high technical nature, which makes them practical and indispensable.
However, the construction of anti-erosion barriers during the dry season requires a mobilization of spirits and energies that is sometimes beyond the possibilities of peasant populations. The dry season here is a long period with the combination of several factors unfavorable to the accomplishment of tasks that require the mobilization of human energy: severe heat, lack of food and water, hardness of the soil, difficult collection and transportation of stones, etc.
In that same perspective of development of additional strategies, it is recommended and desirable to grow a certain number of crops on the reafforested sites. It is mainly the case of vegetable crops that make the soil richer with the nitrogen fixed by their roots. Besides, this practice contributes to the maintenance and protection of sites since populations look after them.
2- Village and pastoral hydraulics
The qualitative and quantitative lack of water constitutes a major challenge for the coming 21st century. If this threat is a source of mobilization of the whole international community, it also constitutes a concern for the peasant of the smallest village in Burkina Faso for example.
The technicians of GCBF have undertaken since the end of last year, consultations on the technical, operational and financial feasibility of water supply projects for the populations of the villages in its intervention zone and also for pastoral and agricultural needs. The activities identified mainly concern the construction of a water reserve in the village of Sambtinga. This water reserve, if it happened to be constructed, would constitute in itself a development center for several villages located near the river. Also, and above all, the digging of water wells is considered.
B- Recommendations
This concerns proposals to favor the acquisition of logistic means in order to enhance the impact of our action. If the qualitative and quantitative results achieved so far constitute elements of satisfaction, it should still be mentioned that we could have reached a higher level of quality in what we are doing if certain conditions were met. The weaknesses generally pointed out mainly concern the lack of logistic means.
1- Heavyweight logistics
A truck and an agricultural tractor for each of our three regions. This does not necessary imply the purchase of new equipment. Second hand equipment in good condition, used in Japan or elsewhere, would be appropriate.
2- Lightweight logistics
There is a need for support for the purchase of working material such as carts, wheelbarrows, digging bars, pick-axes, shovels, protection gloves, boots, shoes for field work, etc. for the populations of each site.
3- Material for follow-up and evaluation
In order to be able to make reports with highly qualitative and accurate information, we would like to request the following:
CONCLUSION
The peasant world, contrarily to how it is pictured by some people with biased and pejorative ideas, is endowed with a centrifugal dynamics focused on a qualitative transformation of internal structures. Since its encounter with the West through colonization and administrative structures established after independence, there are no more traditional societies in the sense of autarky societies not open to the external world. There are rather societies disrupted in their cultural foundation, in a permanent quest for a vital balance with their physical environment. This is the reason why the fights that they engage are fights made of nostalgic memories of the delights of a world carried away by the waves of the past. The fights for subsistence are engaged against elements of a nature that has become capricious; it is a fight to correct the present trend towards decadence, a fight to maintain and perpetuate memories.
The rural populations of our tree planting sites expect that we support them in this fight for the restoration of conditions that were their ancestors’ and the transmission of which to future generations constitutes at the same time a duty and a challenge for the present generations. Thus, they wish to plant tree species that have constituted their socio-economic heritage through time. Therefore, the strategies that we are developing and that we are proposing should complete theirs without systematically denying the initiatives taken on the local level.
If the tree planting that we are conducting now constitutes a strategy to slow down the progress of desertification, its objectives are viewed in the long term while the day to day subsistence of people remains an immediate concern. We then understand why all their concerns are focused on meeting those immediate needs.
The Tree Planting Project has gained much in maturity. It is important to take into account a number of remarks resulting from the experience acquired on the ground to give a new dynamics and make up the shortcomings noticed.
With respect to the numerous difficulties and the need for us to take up the challenge of environmental protection, our deepest aspiration is now the creation of a nursery in each of our three regions. The advantages that those regional nurseries will provide are: first, they will enable us to produce local tree species adapted to conditions of the environment and corresponding to the needs of the populations. Then, the proximity with sites will reduce the difficulties related to transportation and the risks of losing plants.
Annex I: Pictures of the campaign
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