Growing the Wealth of the Poor - World Resources Institute

T U R N I N G B A C K T H E D E S E R Teven daily, attention to pruning trees. As most men still migrateto urban centers throughout West Africa during the dry seasonto secure additional cash income, the increasingly valued taskof tree husbandry often falls to women (Wentling 2008a).Women and their families derive a host of material benefitsfrom this role. Using their own wood for cooking eliminates adaily cost of 200 CFA francs (US 40 cents) for purchasedfirewood (USAID et al. 2005:18). Surplus wood can earn up to400 CFA francs (US 80 cents) per bundle in local marketsKOLLOMA BABA:WOMEN REVIVE LAND, IMPROVE THEIR STATUS“These lands are now like our husbands,” say the women of KollomaBaba, describing the thriving plots of millet and sorghum, cow peas,groundnut, and okra around them, the result of years of hard labor(Abdoulaye and Ibro 2006:40, 42). Once barren, boulder-covered, anddevoid of vegetation, these patches of reclaimed desert have lifted thewomen, mostly divorcees and widows, out of grinding poverty andtransformed their social status. Today, not only do they harvest enoughfood for their families; they earn income from selling surplus crops, hay,and tree seedpods, and their land has significantly increased in value(Boubacar et al. 2005:17, 20; Diarra 2006:21).The women’s fortunes were transformed with the help of the TahouaRural Development Project, funded by the German government agencyGTZ. In the late 1980s, with the agreement of the village chief and localgovernment officials, about 250 widows and divorced women receivedthe rights to abandoned, degraded land in Kolloma Baba, a villagewhere farm productivity had plunged by up to 90 percent (PDRT 1997as cited by Guéro and Dan Lamso 2006:5; Abdoulaye and Ibro 2006:40).In return the women pledged to restore the land by investing their laborin soil and water conservation techniques (Guéro and Dan Lamso2006:29; Winterbottom 2008).After clearing the land of rock, each woman received a plot of about60 square meters (BBC 2006). In addition to sowing traditional milletand sorghum, many took the initiative to diversify into cow peas,groundnut, and okra (Abdoulaye and Ibro 2006:32). In the early years,female farmers worked through the Kolloma Baba Women’s Association,established by the project, with members helping each other to developtheir land (BBC 2006). More recently, they have hired male labor, proofof their considerable economic capacity (Boubacar et al. 2005:18, 29).By 2006, they had restored 2,000 ha of degraded land and were sellingexcess crops, lifting themselves a step out of poverty and increasingtheir social status. A village committee, principally made up of women,deals with protection of regenerated trees across the community(Saadou and Larwanou 2006:15–16, 18).Although their land has increased several times in value, and despitepersistent pressure from male farmers, the women have vowed not tosell. Says association member Fatima Illiassou: “Thanks to our crops,we can eat. We can buy clothes for our children. We won’t go throughall that suffering to give men the fruits of our labor” (BBC 2006).during the dry season; in Zinder, a sack of nutritious, ediblebaobab leaves can sell for as much as 3,000 CFA francs(US$6), three times the average daily wage for laborers(Larwanou et al. 2006:18). Women farmers use FMNRincome to meet household needs, including purchasing foodand paying school fees. Many have also diversified their households’livelihoods: some by taking advantage of better soilfertility and water retention to cultivate cash crops such asonions, tomatoes, sesame, and hibiscus; others by using theirnew earnings to invest in sheep and goats, which live off oftree seedpods (BBC 2006; Reij 2006:iii).Anecdotal evidence highlights how the status of womenhas been transformed by their involvement in FMNR. A 2006field study of FMNR villages across Zinder region found thatlivestock owners—ranked high on the social ladder—commonly included women (Larwanou et al. 2006:21). InKolloma Baba village in Tahoua, formerly vulnerable andmarginalized widows and divorcees employ male laborers towork their farms (Boubacar et al. 2005:10, 16). During the2005 food crisis, female FMNR farmers also used their foodreserves to assist others, elevating their position in thecommunity (Diarra 2006:12). Women farmers’ enhancedstatus is also clearly demonstrated in FMNR communitiesthat boast village natural resource management committees,where they participate equally with men in decision-making(Tougiani et al. 2008:12).Re-greening a Country:Key Players and PartnersWith millions of trees now carpeting land that was mostly barrenonly one to two decades ago, Niger’s farmers have producedone of the most visibly successful examples of natural resourcemanagement in the world today. Although it took several yearsto take off, Niger’s farmers have abandoned a core practice ofclearing fields and have embraced the protection and sustainablemanagement of native vegetation.Why did they do so? One clear reason, say observers, wasthe impact of the environmental and economic crisis of the late1970s and early 1980s, combined with Niger’s boomingpopulation. With more mouths to feed every year, ruralcommunities could see that traditional clearing and farmingmethods were no longer meeting their needs (Wentling 2008a).The obvious success of early FMNR projects, implemented atlittle or no cost to farmers, was also a powerful spur to theirneighbors. But it is unlikely the movement would have reachedsuch a scale or overcome the barriers to farmer adoptionwithout the input of two key players: Niger’s central governmentand international intermediary organizations.153