Zio river valley, Togo, January 2025
Thanks to your support, the ‘Agroforestry and forestry in 10 villages of the Zio river valley’ project, launched in January 2024, is progressing and already delivering extremely encouraging results. The programme, which runs until 2027, aims to plant 100,000 fertiliser, forest, and fruit trees in ten villages in Togo’s maritime region.
Assessment of activities carried out
A number of key milestones have been reached since the start of 2024. Awareness-raising activities have led to constructive dialogue with traditional chiefs, Village Development Committees (CVDs), women and young people. These discussions highlighted the importance of introducing fertiliser trees to farming methods in order to improve yields and protect the environment.
As part of the project, 11 community nurseries have been set up – 10 in beneficiary villages and 1 at a central location – to meet specific needs. These sites were developed with support from the local communities, who were actively involved in preparing the land, building shade to protect the plants, and installing the necessary equipment. Thanks to a collective organisation and the distribution of materials and seeds by the project’s local technicians, the nursery teams produced a total of 118,550 young plants. By ensuring diversified production of fertiliser, forest, and fruit trees adapted to local needs, these nurseries play a key role in reaching the project’s goals.
Results to date
The project has already exceeded initial expectations, with 553 farming families trained, compared with the 250 initially planned. In terms of plantations, 118,550 trees have been produced, of which 64,200 fertiliser, 28,770 forestand 25,580 fruit trees. Local communities are particularly interested in the fertilizer trees, which help boost soil fertility and farming productivity while reducing the need to use chemicals.
All the seedlings in the nurseries have been distributed to project beneficiaries and planted on their plots.
Future perspectives
In the coming months, efforts will focus on monitoring plantations, analysing geolocation data, and capacity building among local communities. Feedback from beneficiaries underlines a strong desire to continue extending the plantations in order to maximise the economic, social, and environmental benefits.
Catch up soon for more news from the plantations!
