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Reclaiming bare land: Pro-ARIDES Burkina launches the “Zéro-Zipélé” (zero bare land) operation in the commune of Nouna

Training of community trainers by STDs, animators and supervisors on dryland reclamation techniques | Pro-ARIDES

A solution to the shortage of arable land due to the accelerated degradation of natural resources.

Training of community trainers by STDs, animators and supervisors on dryland reclamation techniques | Pro-ARIDES
Training of community trainers by STDs, animators and supervisors on dryland reclamation techniques
Community trainers train farm households in dryland reclamation techniques | Pro-ARIDES
Community trainers train farm households in dryland reclamation techniques
When I took the training with our community trainer, I was in a hurry to come and start the Zaï in my zipelés that I thought were useless. I didn’t know what techniques to use to reclaim this space, and today I’ve started zaï on ½ ha. I intend to exploit all this bare space of about 3.5 ha to enlarge my field and increase my income” says Mr. DAKUYO Maurice from the village of Hienkuy in the commune of Nouna.

The Agri-Food Program for Resilience and Economic Development in the Sahel (Pro-ARIDES) is a program funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. SNV is implementing the program over a 10-year period with consortium partners CARE-Netherlands, Wageningen University & Research and The Royal Tropical Institute, as well as with its local partners, national and regional farmers’ and pastoralists’ organizations including FESCOPA-B and CNA. Through trajectory 1 of the program, FESCOA-B is implementing land reclamation techniques such as zaï (Ordinary and Rectangular), stone cordons and half-moons, and RNA (Régénération Naturelle Assistée) in the program’s communes. These techniques are disseminated to farming households by community trainers in each village. It was through these household replications that “ Operation Zero Zipele” came into being in the commune of Nouna, in the village of Babekolon. Long practiced in the country’s most arid regions (north, north-central, sahel), CES/DRS techniques such as half-moons and zaï were previously unknown to farmers in certain localities, including the commune of Nouna, where the land still seemed to give “false hope” to farmers, despite the fact that degradation is accelerating year on year with climate change. To galvanize their peers, the community trainers in the commune of Nouna, after receiving training from FESCOPA-B via the agricultural technical services, launched the “zero zipélé” operation, which means “zero bare land”.

This operation will be replicated in all 21 Pro-ARIDES communes, and will be a great success, with strong local support. Farmers welcome and unreservedly adopt these resilience techniques promoted by Pro-ARIDES, which they see as a solution to the shortage of arable land caused by the accelerated degradation of natural resources.

Operation Zéro Zipélé “ enabled women to develop barren land to make up for the lack of land, a major problem for women in rural areas. This is the case for women in the villages of Tonkoroni and Patiarakuy in the commune of Nouna, who have developed two hectares (2ha), i.e. 1 ha for each group of 30 women in each village. This reclaimed land will enable them to produce in peace for the 2022-2023 season. They intend to increase this area for future seasons.

We’re very proud to have taken part in the training on techniques for reclaiming bare land using zaï and half-moon techniques. Today, we’d like to thank the Pro-ARIDES program for enabling us to develop 1 ha for our production this season”, says the president of the Benkadi cooperative in the village of Tonkoroni (Nouna).

Training of CFs and households in CES/DRS techniques was carried out by FESCPAB using a “participative, empowering and above all practical” approach. Cascading training sessions were organized, starting with the program’s technical departments, animators and supervisors, 55 of whom were trained. Based on this pool, 34 training sessions were organized in the 21 communes, building the capacity of 609 community trainers (CTs). Based on this CF pool, household training sessions were then organized, with each CF having a mandate to train at least 15 households around him. As the training sessions were practical in the field, each training session was used to recover an area of 0.25ha using at least 2 of the 4 technologies promoted (Zaï, Demi-lune, Cordons pierreux and RNA). Through this approach and training scheme, some 9,135 households were strengthened and at least 160ha of dryland reclaimed.

In order to encourage CFs in this incentive, the program has decided this year to support them withcertified improved seed kits to develop reclaimed land. In addition, the training of stakeholders in land reclamation techniques will continue during the 2022-2023 wet season, with the establishment in 15 communes with low security challenges of 30 Farmer Showcase Plots combining the CES/DRS techniques promoted and the use of certified seeds of improved varieties. This will enable around 900 households to be trained in these extension tools.