A Tale of Two Villages

Agroforestry can transform lives and landscapes. Trees and shrubs grown on farms provide fruit, timber, resins, fuelwood and livestock fodder. They also improve soil fertility, regulate water supplies and help farmers adapt to changing climatic conditions.
Research in the Ethiopian highlands provides some interesting insights into why there are lots of trees in some landscapes, while few in others.
This video is funded by, and is part of, the USAID-funded Africa RISING (Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation) programme, which in the Ethiopian Highlands is managed by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).
The World Agroforestry Centre supports the research through the CGIAR Research Programme on Forests, Trees, Agroforestry (FTA).
This product is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License

[@b_uppy]

Looks beautiful. Farmers in the US have been finding that polycropping helps the soil and crops even more, both in rebuilding soil and sequestering groundwater. Leave zero bare ground, plant appropriate plants. All grazing is be being villianized when it is overgrazing that is the problem. Instead use shepherds to mob graze the livestock. This it solves the issue of overgrazing while reducing the general workload and increasing biomass. I love Watusi cattle.

[@vivalaleta]

Some great success but obviously some areas that still needed work. Is there an update?

[@wairorejohn7407]

This is very interesting!! Keep up the good work! I have previously worked on similar contrasting dynamics in two communities in Kenyan drylands. However, I was yet to come across this video. We will share our results soon ...

[@leelindsay5618]

Grazing is not an enemy of regenerative agriculture. Grasses need recovery time.

[@b_uppy]

Exactly. It is overgrazing that is problematic, not grazing. Pressured rotational grazing is most productive and healthy for soils, people, groundwater. Interplant plenty of trees to create a savannah and it's near perfect.

[@FabianBrandt]

Thanks for sharing this valuable analysis of differences in the implementation of watershed rehabiltation. Great work!

[@akemamo1924]

Thanks, Fabian. Thanks, Fabio! It is really to help in the understanding that there are very many options, and very many contexts in which small-holder farmers operate, even within such a short distance as between Abreha Atsebeha and Adi Gudom.

[@mrMacGoover]

A people divided among themselves that work not in unity will not stand the tribulations and hard ships of life.

[@b_uppy]

It is ignorance of better methods, and the perceived wastage of time that is the issue.

[@mrMacGoover]

Two different villages, one cooperative that has citizens and leaders that work together to agree on banning open grazing, plane water conservation efforts and land management together. And the other village that doesn't work cooperatively as one body and is unplanned and is almost barren and its citizens struggle to get by.

[@mikeaskme3530]

@Mr McGoover i noticed that dynamic as well, it's a great analogy as to what is going on in the US with the Covid-19 crisis, some states have great leaders and some do not. In some states people are taking the crisis serious and in others not so much. Example in Ohio i have a republican governor who has taken the Covid-19 crisis serious and has mandated mask use and for the most part people are wearing them ( from what i have seen) and then there is Georgia, where the governor of that state has actually banned any local mandate for mask wearing. Same crisis different approaches to it.

[@b_uppy]

​@@mikeaskme3530 Interestingly it is a dynamic that was exacerbated by poor leadership, and thus this cooperation lead to more harm than good.

[@mikeaskme3530]

@@b_uppy say what, I am truly confused can you explain me clearly?

[@MsJefferman]

Thank you for sharing

[@lichotropical3350]

Try Mesquite Trees from the legume family. A super tree, needs little water, poor soil, reproduces fast, conditions soils and produces bean pods. It hard dense wood is perfect for cooking even for shelter.

[@b_uppy]

They have plenty of useful indigenous plants they could use that are useful to farming and grazing, they just need to interplant them in fields and pastures more, and avoid "goatification".

[@mikeaskme3530]

@Licho Tropical, that sounds good on paper, but i think you also have to take into account invasive species and the problems that come with them. They do have native plants they could use, i think the issue with one of the villages is the lack of a consensus on grazing and not grazing. People i have found of difficult and very hard headed, the unwillingness to change traditional practices even in the face of starvation seems to a problematic ideal for some. You see this all over the world, even in what we would call "advanced" countries. No one likes to be told they way you have done things you cant do it anymore.

[@b_uppy]

​@@mikeaskme3530 There is prosopis in Africa.

[@dr.rajeshvats9048]

👍🌹

[@ugh5559]

It's amazing to see the transformation from agroforestry and conservation agriculture, however I feel it would be much more beneficial in multiple ways if they would plant and utilise more trees and plants that are native to that region, rather than non-natives. Particularly as those non-natives most likely won't support native wildlife as well as native species would. They also run the risk of becoming an introduced pest.

[@madoxxxx06]

Amazing work!

[@isbakernation]

22,222nd viewer! thought that was cool.

[@lol-cu3lh]

Commento scritto più comprensibile. Molto bene. Grazie

[@akemamo1924]

Fabio, We will also be translating it into Spanish so do watch this space!

[@timgrindley8080]

How about this for an idea; Get stupid rich Western do-gooders like me to sponsor a prize for one of 3 particular villages. The prize, say $500, is awarded to the village which has made the best progrss. Each village will be expected to doa before wander around teh village video and lots of updates. These are shared to the otehr villages to show the state of the competition and the sponsor will be expected to comment during the competition. Maybe small sprint prizes as well, best well etc. Nothing like thinking that the other village will get something you are not going to get..

[@b_uppy]

They did this I regions in a region in India. The winners of the contest won twice, because of the prize and greatly increased productivity.

[@unlimitedwealth1]

Typical in life the less you have the harder you work.

[@Eukalocolotlan]

Muy bueno, nos indica qué hacer en nuestra región. Lo he insertado en mi blog: colotlan.wordpress.com/2014/08/04/un-cuento-de-dos-aldeas/