Durable Solutions Congo

Syntrophic Agroforestry

Deforestation caused by harvesting forest trees for charcoal, and the never-ending quest for more fertile forest soil to feed a growing population, is decimating Congo’s forests, flora, and fauna. When forests are cleared, and crops are grown with less and less fallow time, a vicious downward cycle ensues for the environment and for the inhabitants of the land. Women farming in DRC have to walk much farther every day to reach fertile fields than they did a decade and time and energy are lost for other essential daily activities.

Harnessing the power of syntropic agroforestry is a way to reduce and reverse deforestation and is included in Durable Solutions portfolio of activities as it is synergistic with the use of improved stoves and also improves hydrological systems. Syntrophic agroforestry uses succession planting of trees and crops to maximise the use of the land in a manner that sustains the soil and the environment while at the same time providing the resources a family needs.

Durable Solutions staff has experience with syntrophic agroforestry systems that produce quality firewood and building material and which can also increase agricultural production at the same time. In addition to syntrophic agroforestry systems based on fire wood, the staff also has experience in designing and planting food forests that ensure there is always food available for village households.

An example of one of the trees Durable Solutions is eager to promote in a syntrophic system that has potential for widespread use is the acacia tree Acacia augustissima. The advantages of Acacia augustissima are:

- grows fast and improves the soil for planting annual crops.
 

- easy to transplant because of an enlarged taproot that resembles a thin carrot. No planting bags are needed, so there is no need or cost for bags or hauling any amount of soil from the nursery to the field.
 

- produces 2 x the biomass that Leucaena does in the same time frame, in very small fine leaves that decompose very quickly.
 

- shades out the Imperata cylindricum sword grass fast, reducing fire hazard and reducing weeding labor when cleared for planting any crop.
 

- if burned, resprouts from underground and produces a multi stemmed bush
 

- the wood is light and easy to cut but becomes very strong and shock resistant when dry. The coppicing re-growth is in straight poles of small diameter that are ideal for use in the Sala Makala stove.)
 

-the wood makes excellent firewood, burning quite cleanly, and is resistant to wood borers and termites, making it an excellent building material.
 

-its cycle of growth allows for growing other crops within three years of planting. After the first use, the trees can be cut regularly every second year.
 

-Improves crop production by a factor of 5.

“Syntropic Agriculture, on the other hand, helps the farmer replicate and accelerate the natural processes of ecological succession and stratification, giving each plant the ideal conditions for its development, placing each one in their “just right” position in space (strata) and in time (succession). It is process-based agriculture, rather than input-based. In that way, the harvest is seen as a side effect of ecosystem regeneration, or vice versa.” - Ernst Götsch
 

A Gliricidia grove with sweetpotato vines at 21months