• Land restoration in Burkina Faso’s Centre-Ouest and Kadiogo regions is women’s work.
• Here, women have made fertilizer trees their indispensable allies in reviving farmland.
• Thanks to these nitrogen-fixing and shade-providing trees, they’re bringing degraded soils back to life.
• In Cassou and Bazoulé communes in Centre-Ouest, local women are breathing new life into an ancestral technique that boosts productivity and enriches biodiversity.

Maan Tagnan has planted several varieties of fertilizer trees in her field, including Albizia stipulata, Ferruginea and white acacia (Faidherbia albida). The acacia, known locally as zaanga, is revered by agroforesters, Zouré says. “It’s an off-season tree that sheds its leaves during the rainy season and provides shade in the dry season, making it essential for maintaining soil fertility in agroforestry systems,” he says.

archived (Wayback Machine)