Zaï

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Zaï in the municipality of Tajaé in Niger (video, without sound, 33 sec)

Zaï or Tassa describes a system widespread in the western Sahel ( Burkina Faso , Niger , Mali ) for the rehabilitation of degraded arid areas and increasing soil fertility .

application

Small holes are dug with the digging stick and filled with organic material. Termites carry it into the soil and loosen it up so that water can penetrate more easily. With the onset of the rainy season, crops or trees can be used for re-greening.

As part of development projects , the Zaï system is propagated in order to stop the spread of the desert, the desertification .

In 2010 the film "The Man Who Stopped the Desert" was released, in which the farmer Yacouba Sawadogo from Burkina Faso is portrayed. Since the 1980s, he had replanted a whole area of ​​land, primarily with the Zaï method, which he further developed through his own experiments. His methods were taken up by the local Ministry of Agriculture, but also by foreign agricultural experts, in order to apply them throughout the region. He received the Right Livelihood Award in 2018 .

As an alternative to the Zaï technique, the creation of plant dams is recommended, especially in very light soils.

literature

  • Mamadou Doumbia, Abou Berthe, Jens B. Aune: Integrated Plant Nutrition Management in Mali. Summary Report 1998-2004 . Drylands Coordination Group, Oslo 2005 ( PDF file ).
  • Dougbedji Fatondji, Christopher Martius, Paul Vlek: "Zai" - traditional method of land restoration in Niger . In: ZEFnews . No. 8 / September 2001, pp. 1-2 ( PDF file ).
  • Eric Roose, Patrick Dugué, Luc Rodriguez: La G .C .ES Une nouvelle stratégie de lutte anti-érosive appliquée à l'aménagement de terroirs en zone soudano-sahélienne du Burkina Faso . In: Bois et Forêts des Tropiques . No. 233/1992, pp. 49-63 ( PDF file ).

Movie

  • The Man Who Stopped the Desert, GB 2010, directed by Mark Dodd / 1080 Films ( website )

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Christiane Grefe: Yacouba Sawadogo: Farmer from Burkina Faso receives alternative Nobel Prize. In: time online. September 24, 2018, accessed October 27, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Hans-Heinrich Bass, Klaus von Freyhold and Cordula Weisskoeppel: Harvesting water, protecting trees: Food security in the Sahel . Bremen 2013, p. 46–48 ( Online [PDF; 2.9 MB ; accessed on October 27, 2018]).

Web links