Samuel R., an expert from A Tree for You’s scientific committee, in a field belonging to a beneficiary couple in Ativémé ©A Tree for You
Zio river valley, Togo, August 2024
Part of the A Tree for You team travelled to Togo to visit the projects carried out with APAF Togo in the Zio valley and around Lake Togo. An expert from A Tree for You‘s scientific committee, together with the association’s delegate general, spent a week in the field with the planting partner and beneficiary communities in the villages.
In the Zio valley, the team met farmers who had adopted agroforestry practices in the villages of Kouaxoé (plantations between 2019 and 2021), Ativémé (plantations in 2020 and 2021), and Bolou Klokpoe (plantations in 2020, 2021, and 2023).
The audit focused on technical aspects of the plantations (species diversity, suitability for the soil and climate, planting scheme), on assessing benefits for local communities and the dynamics generated, as well as the legal and financial aspects of the relationship between A Tree for You and APAF Togo.
The A Tree for You team was extremely satisfied with its partner’s achievements and saw at first hand the serious management and technical skills of the APAF Togo team.
A Tree for You was particularly impressed by the ethnobotanical knowledge of APAF Togo’s director oftree species – from treating seeds in the nursery to awaken them from dormancy and get them grow – to their use by local communities as medicines or food. Knowledge and beliefs surrounding trees, in particular, are important in Togo, with practices that are still very much alive today. Howeverthis knowledge is disappearing over the generations. Agroforestry projects are helping revive and develop this knowledge by planting trees for therapeutic purposes, for example, and through training courses for villagers run by APAF technicians.
Beneficiary farmer with a Xylopia aethiopica plant (Guinea pepper with therapeutic properties), in the village of Bolou Klokpoe ©A Tree for You
The needs in the Zio valley are huge. The villagers who have received support testify to the benefits they have gained. This enthusiasm is spreading within the villages to other farmers and neighbouring villages. Over a period of several days, a Togolese team of video-makers selected by A Tree for You followed the listeners to capture the benefits of the projects on film. The farmers we met were all very happy with the benefits already achieved: shade, soil fertilisation, better market value for their produce, health benefits and additional income.
One of the difficulties for the local plantation partner is choosing which villages to help start a new planting phase. It is important to capitalise on the knowledge acquired in the villages that have already received support, in order to ensure they are more independent when it comes to future plantations. At the same time, there is a desire to help more and more villages.
When it comes to carrying out agroforestry planting projects, with the support of village governance structures such as nursery or village development committees, chiefdoms, and so forth, there are two main reasons why it is difficult for farmers to become fully autonomous:
- the seeds of ‘fertilizer’ trees are only viable when produced by trees over 20 years’ old. In the Plateaux region of Togo, these trees were planted by APAF Togo more than two decades ago. to the project pays the farmers who own the trees for the seeds, making these first plantations sustainable and providing a good income for these first beneficiaries;
Cocoa in the shade of a 20-year old Samanea saman fertility tree, near Tove Banu in the Plateaux region ©A Tree for You
- the business model for community nurseries is still lacking and farmers in the Zio valley cannot yet afford to buy young plants – even if the trees mean they can subsequently save rapidly by not having to purchase fertilisers and chemical pesticides.
The audit was an opportunity to discuss different strategies for creating an agroforestry culture, beyond training beneficiaries and nurserymen, in the villages. A Tree for You and APAF Togo shared initiatives such as raising awareness among children, playing songs, and setting up projects involving several planting phases within the same villages.
Village chiefdom welcoming the team to Kouaxoe ©A Tree for You
A Tree for You and APAF Togo are continuing their joint action with new planting phases ongoing in 10 villages in the Zio valley – eight new, two old.
