Millenium Plan Showcases Fertilizer Trees
story contributed by the World Agroforestry Centre

March 2005. Fertilizer trees developed at the World Agroforestry Centre were among a handful of advanced technologies highlighted
in the recently released Global Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

In his presentation, MDG Special Adviser Jeffrey Sachs noted that fertilzer trees could play a major role in efforts to boost food production and restore Africa's degraded farm lands.

Developed at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), a CGIAR research institute, fertilizer trees can easily capture more than 100 kilograms of atmospheric nitrogen per hectare and transfers it to the soil. At those levels, farmers can readily double or triple maize production without purchasing expensive mineral fertilizer.

Since the late 1990s, when just a few hundred farmers began village-level testing of the trees in Eastern and Southern Africa, an estimated 200,000 maize farmers are now using the technology. The farmers recognize that fertilizer trees do much the same job as conventional fertilizers - improve soil fertility - but accomplish the job using natural processes at a fraction of the cost. While ICRAF researchers recognize that mineral fertilizers have a major role to play in African agricultural development, such fertilizers are frequently beyond the reach of the rural poor and are often unavailable even when subsidized by government.

The significance of the fertilizer tree concept, says World Agroforestry Centre Director General Dennis Garrity, is that it enables a farm family to produce its own nitrogen and cycle other nutrients from deep within the soil with no outlay of cash. Garrity describes fertilizer trees as small fertilizer factories that are placed in the fields where they are needed most.

They are also a one-time investment: once the trees are established, seed multiplication and extension activities can be left in the
hands of local communities.

While no one type of fertilizer tree fits all ecologies or production systems, demand is especially high for a species known as
Gliricidia sepium. A particularly productive and robust variety of Gliricidia was introduced from Central America and tested starting
the late 1980s. While the amount of fertilizer it produces is equal to that of other fertilizer trees species, its major advantage is that it
grows back year after year despite severe pruning. This enables it to be planted and sustained at high density in a grid pattern and to
be trimmed back to the ground surface to eliminate competition with crops.

Selected by cooperating farmers, Gliricidia performs well on both heavy and sandy soils and is widely adaptable.
The nitrogen content of the foliage ranges from 3 and 4 percent and provides a high quality fertilizer that is readily
used by cereal crops. Another important attribute: Gliricidia produces large amounts of firewood that saves both family labor
and reduces pressure on surrounding forests and woodlands.

Policy Brief for Malawi

In a recent policy brief submitted to the government of Malawi, scientists at the CGIAR's World Agroforestry Centre
recommended that a solution to persistent hunger is possible if farmers have the option to combine mineral fertilizers
with organic sources of nutrients such as those provided by fertilizer trees. Despite the best efforts of government and
the international community to increase food production, millions of Malawian farm families continue to suffer from
persistent food shortages. Indeed, according to a report published in Malawi's leading newspaper, the Nation, the country has only had three good harvests over the past 15 years. Subsidies on mineral fertilizer, the authors note, have helped to boost yields by less than 8 percent nationwide. In contrast, because fertilizer trees deliver nutrients at a rate that meets or surpasses government recommendations, farmers who grow the trees can easily double or triple their yields.

Malawi's Leading Maize Farmer

By many accounts one of Malawi's most productive maize farmer is Mrs. Estere Banda, a widow and mother who, until recently, depended on food aid to feed her family. Her small plot in Central Malawi, scientists say, is typical of region's farms except for the fact that her once-depleted soils now produce bumper crops of maize. Four years ago, hungry and with no cash to buy commercial fertilizer, Mrs. Banda began planting fertilizer trees. Today, her maize fields are so productive that she entirely self-sufficient. She also benefits from selling seeds and firewood -- a byproduct of the trees -- and is using the cash to pay school fees and make home improvements. ICRAF economists point out that women and the poor are major beneficiaries of the fertilizer technology and that female-headed households adopt the practices at the same rate as men. Because the trees suppress weeds and reduce soil compaction, they also reduce the urden of land preparation, a traditional responsibility of the female members of the household.

Women in Malawi homeward bound after gathering fuelwood Photo: World Agroforestry Centre

Demand is growing rapidly for Gliricidia sepium Photo: World Agroforestry Centre

Gliricidia sepium for fodder in Mali Photo: World Agroforestry Centre

Related Information:

World Agroforestry Centre web site
All about Gliricidia sepium from the Cornell University web site
Information on Gliricidia sepium from Winrock International