Is FMNR The ‘Fastest Way To Restore Degraded Landscapes’?


07/30/2018

Experts talk about the sustainable effects of FMNR which had flooded the scientists with hope to a cost effective and low carbon restoration method to re-introduce greenery in degraded soils.


Dailycsr.com – 30 July 2018 – FMNR stands for ‘farmer-managed natural regeneration’ process. The method came under the lime light a few years ago, as the world witnessed “5 million hectares of Niger” being clothed with restored greenery with the help of this above mentioned practice.
 
FMNR encourages regeneration followed by management of trees as well as shrubs sprouting from “stumps, roots, and seeds” in an area with degraded soils, like the ones under current agricultural production.
 
After these “woody plants” establish themselves in farm yards, they enhance soil fertility besides retaining moisture whereby helping the crops that are planted in the field. This combination is known as a system called agro-forestry.
 
Many years of trial to plant trees had met with failure. Therefore the restored land of Niger brought in hopes for a successful future of “a low-tech and low-cost approach” for greenery restoration. Soon the researchers flocked in that area and discovered that the FMNR practice boosted 30% grain yield, besides hiking up incomes and proved to be climate friendly.
 
However, even after a decade, Burkina Faso’s two scientists who are associated with the “World Agroforestry Centre”, in short ICRAF, are still scrutinising the data and digging deeper into it. Dr. Jules Bayala is the chief scientist for Sahel while Dr Patrice Sawadogo is a “senior scientist”.
 
In an interview, Cathy Watson, the chief of programme development at ICRAF, caught up with the two scientists to know about “trees, soil carbon, and productivity” and to “discuss whether FMNR is the fastest way to restore degraded landscapes, and if it has utility beyond drylands”.
 
For catching the full interview, kindly visit:
https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/farmer-managed-natural-regeneration-the-fastest-way-to-restore-trees-to-degraded-landscapes/
 
 
 
References:
news.mongabay.com