This campaign has now closed
We wish to support young people in Sikasso, Mali, to set up their own orchards. This will: regenerate the land that has been desertified by cotton fields, bring in sustainable income for young people and their families and mean that they do not have to migrate to neighbouring countries to find work.
Categories
Beneficiaries
Situation
Soil quality in this area of Mali has been destroyed by intensive cotton production – damaging to biodiversity and to local people’s ability to grow crops. With the soil too degraded to grow crops this has become one of the poorest areas of the country. Young people are being forced to migrate to neighbouring countries to find often-low paid work. Enabling young people to plant orchards will revive the land and reverse desertification, as well as providing them with sustainable livelihoods.
Solution
We will provide young people with 200 grafted fruit trees to plant on an acre of land. They enclose this themselves with fencing to keep out livestock, we will provide the cost of the materials and trees and offer training in orchard management. Trees provide shade and compost and protect the agricultural plots from water and wind erosion – improving soil quality and crop yields. The produce from the trees generates sustainable income for young people and means they do not need to migrate.
