Thanks to your generous support, we were able to provide sufficient food aid so that people in villages with no harvest were not forced to become refugees. Now these villages are making ends meet by collecting hay and fodder to sell to people in towns. We have built 16 wells already this year - the greatest number so far - at a time when water crisis has never been worse. We are currently working on Dune Stabilisation in 16 villages; helping new Beekeepers with their honey harvests; and we are working to improve food security in both Central and South Mali. We are introducing improved methods of compost making, zai and half-moon planting so that crops can grow with less soil and water, and using contour lines of stones to regenerate soil and hold rainwater. In South Mali we are working on the introduction of more viable seed varieties of millet and sorghum that can support less rainfall. The rainy season is no longer 4 months long in South Mali, so we are trialling rare and old-fashioned varieties of seeds from further north in Mali. There is a tremendous demand for these seeds, so a team of volunteers is propagating more of them. From an original collection 40 kilos, they have propagated 2 tons for farmers to trial and sow this year.
We are training Tree Nursery Managers and Manageresses in South Mali and are currently very much in need of funds for tree planting in the July rainy season. The trees people want are fruit trees; hedgerow trees for field boundaries; shade trees for schools, health centres and well areas; trees that provide sustainable forage for livestock, and people wish to regenerate sacred forest areas that have died in drought. We would use more drought-resistant indigenous tree species for this.
We would be extremely grateful if you could support our tree planting programme with urgently needed funds. With £10 we can plant 100 trees that are locally sourced and grown, do not use peat or plastic, that create much-needed resources and income and that help to reduce searing temperatures and climate change.
