Farmers in South Mali would like to plant fruit and nut orchards instead of cotton. Cotton production is destroying farmland and it is no longer viable with less rainfall. The area is ideally suited to fruit production which improves the land, prevents erosion, and produces a good income.
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Beneficiaries
For many years the area has been commercialised for cotton production. The land has been deforested to grow cotton and it requires deep ploughing. This is causing severe soil & water erosion in a wide area which is impoverishing soils and preventing food production. Cotton requires extensive fertilisers and herbicides which destroy soil humus, kill livestock and people, and put people into debt. The area has now become the poorest in Mali and people now earn nothing at all from growing cotton.
We will work with volunteers, mainly women and unemployed young people, who wish to plant orchards. They will need to dig a water supply and provide the labour to put up fencing material to protect the trees. We will supply 200 grafted fruit and nut trees and provide training in orchard management and marketing support. In the first three years, the fenced orchards will be also used for market gardening between the saplings to provide an income and training will also be given for this.
