admin | October 7, 2025
News Brief
On her two-hectare plot, Maan Alima Tagnan cultivates millet, cowpeas, and other crops with her grandson’s help. Among the plants, carefully spaced “fertilizer trees” improve soil fertility using an ancestral agroforestry technique revived by the Association for the Promotion of Fertilizer Trees, Agroforestry and Forestry (APAF). Trees like Albizia, Ferruginea, and white acacia enrich nutrients, reduce reliance on chemical fertilizers, and provide shade. Trained in planting, pruning, and maintenance, Tagnan and other women farmers report healthier crops and recovering soil. Despite challenges like water scarcity and land tenure, the practice is spreading across Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Togo.
The sun blazes over the rural commune of Cassou, where dusty paths wind between small fields. In one plot, Maan Alima Tagnan, a grandmother in her seventies, bends over her crops with a hoe in hand. Her 8-year-old grandson helps her weed the land she inherited from her late husband. The two-hectare plot feeds her family and is planted with millet, cowpeas, and other crops.
What stands out in Mrs. Tagnan’s field are the trees carefully spaced among the crops. These are “fertilizer trees,” part of an ancestral agroforestry technique revived by the Association for the Promotion of Fertilizer Trees, Agroforestry and Forestry (APAF).
Firmin Hien, APAF-Burkina Faso’s deputy executive director, explains that the practice is not new. He says, “Our parents used to plant trees to enrich the soil, but people abandoned it when chemical fertilizers arrived.” Research supports the practice, showing that fertilizer trees can increase soil nutrients, including nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, by 30 to 60 percent.
Mrs. Tagnan has planted several varieties, including Albizia stipulata, Ferruginea, and white acacia, known locally as zaanga. Cheick Zouré, a specialist at Joseph Ki-Zerbo University, says that acacia sheds its leaves during the rainy season and provides shade in the dry season, making it essential for maintaining soil fertility. Mrs. Tagnan tried chemical fertilizers when her land stopped producing, but she could not afford them. Now, she says her soil is recovering as the trees take root and grow.
APAF has trained Mrs. Tagnan and other women farmers on proper planting, spacing, watering, weeding, and pruning techniques. Adjara Diasso, president of the local farmers’ association Les Marolaines, says these practices have transformed her once-infertile land. She says, “Everything is going wonderfully now. Whatever I plant alongside the trees thrives.”
Water scarcity and land tenure remain challenges. Edwige Ouédraogo, president of the Bazoulé Women’s Cooperative, explains that women often negotiate for small plots and cannot plant trees on land they do not own. She says,“For now, we make do with our gardens”
Despite these obstacles, fertilizer trees are spreading in Cassou and beyond, helping restore soil and improve livelihoods in Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Togo.
Photo: Maan Alima Tagnan under one of the trees she has planted in her field. Image by Yvette Zongo for Mongabay.
This story is based on an article written by Yvette Zongo for Mongabay, titled “Burkina Faso’s women farmers reviving the land with fertilizer trees.” To read the full story, go to : https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/burkina-fasos-women-farmers-reviving-the-land-with-fertilizer-trees/