Maza Tsaye

One of our favorite things during our orientation week was learning about agriculture in Niger. We took a tour one day of Maza Tsaye, which is a SIM run tree nursery in Maradi. Every tree native to Niger is grown here along with many other trees that grow well in a hot and dry climate. They are doing some amazing work with local farmers in Niger to improve crop yields and to try to slow the spread of the Sahara Desert.

Lots and lots of tree seeds!

About 70% of Nigerians are subsistence farmers which means that most of their produce is consumed by the farmer and his family leaving little or nothing that can be sold. So, in a country this impoverished, one of the best ways to help alleviate poverty is to teach the people how to be better farmers. However, Nigerian farmers in the past have been resistant to adopting new farming techniques. Their families’ lives literally depend on their crops for survival. If it is a bad year with the crops, one of their children might starve to death as a result. This makes it difficult for them to take risks on implementing new techniques that they have never tried. They really have to be convinced it is going to work before they will give it a go.

This is the Gao tree, also known as the magical tree in Niger because there are many advantages to having it around. The pods on this tree are good food for the animals and the farmer can eat the leaves and stems as food.

Pods from the Gao tree.

This is Ousmane. He is in charge of tree growing and planting. All of the seeds start out in these little sacks and will be planted in the ground once the rainy season starts. There are only four months out of the year that are suitable to plant trees. So, they try to get them growing nicely a few months before the rains come. That way the trees have enough time to dig their roots deep into the ground before the hot weather returns in the Fall. Farmers can purchase these trees from Maza Tsaye to plant in their own fields. It was interesting to  learn about how a few rows of trees in a field can really help the crops. When the leaves fall to the ground they help to slow evaporation of water from the soil. Animals come along to eat the leaves and fruit from the tree and they leave behind droppings that add fertilizer to the soil. The leaves themselves also decompose and add organic matter to the soil. Having several trees in a field can markedly improve crop yields.

The trees on the left seen below are actually from last seasons’ crop, but they weren’t big enough to plant. They will be planted with this year’s crop and will have a better chance at survivial.

Below is the highly nutritious Moringa tree that Marc mentioned in his post about the CREN.

The workers at Maza Tsaye are teaching Nigerian farmers the importance of compost and how to make a three part compost. Many believe that if their crops fail it was because there wasn’t enough water for them to grow. However, most of the time, the issue is with the soil. The soil in Niger is mostly either sandy (like in Maradi) or rocky and hard (like here in Galmi) so adding compost really helps the ground to retain the water it needs to nurture a plant. David, our tour guide, said a farmer can increase his crop yield greatly by adding a little compost to his land.

One agricultural method that has been quite successful for the Nigerians over the past few decades is the FMNR (Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration) technique. This technique teaches farmers how to properly prune their tree stumps by selecting how many shoots they want growing off each stump. Trees were previously just removed from fields because it was perceived that they would steal away moisture and nutrients from the crops. In reality, trees can help crops by improving soil fertility, reducing wind speeds, and providing a habitat for birds so that plant killing insects can be controlled. One of the workers at Maza Tsaye demonstrated FMNR to us while we were there.

Marc took this picture to show you how big some of the thorns are out here. Most of the plants have thorns on them, I assume, to deter the animals from eating them. Marc had one go straight through his tennis shoe when he went running his first week here. We decided to share this picture with you on Good Friday as a reminder for all of us to give thanks for Jesus' sacrifice.

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" And they struck him in the face.

John 19:1-3