Tony Rinaudo has loved trees since he was a child, long before he started studying agronomy. In southern Australia where he was born, he has always scrutinized their shape, their growth, their foliage, their roots.
Now an agricultural engineer, this enthusiast is trying to save his dear trees around the world. He set out to re-green arid areas by regenerating remnants of forest buried in the ground. In particular in Niger, where he left with his wife to work as a missionary and where he inherited a tree planting project.
The people I was supposed to help called me the crazy white farmer.Tony Rinaudo, agricultural engineer.
The failure of a project and the revelation of roots
The project launched in Niger was intended to plant some 6,000 trees per year. “The idea was to stop the advance of the desert and to help the villagers to be able to obtain firewood and more generally to meet their wood needs”, confides Tony Rinaudo Monday in the program Tout un monde .
But the majority of the trees that were planted did not resist, because the climate is harsh in this country located on the edge of the Sahara. “There are no fences and in the dry season goats and cattle eat anything that grows. The people I was supposed to help called me the crazy white farmer.”
But one day, the crazy farmer looked at some roots in the middle of the bush. And there is the revelation for him, he says in his book “The Forest Underground” (“The underground forest, hope for a planet in crisis”).
But the majority of the trees that were planted did not resist, because the climate is harsh in this country located on the edge of the Sahara. “There are no fences and in the dry season goats and cattle eat anything that grows. The people I was supposed to help called me the crazy white farmer.”
But one day, the crazy farmer looked at some roots in the middle of the bush. And there is the revelation for him, he says in his book “The Forest Underground” (“The underground forest, hope for a planet in crisis”).
An underground forest with great potential
“Beneath the sand, there were old stumps with lots of little shoots. And I thought to myself that it was not necessary to fight the Sahara desert or to have a multi-million dollar program to solve this problem. problem. All I need is under my feet”, says Tony Rinaudo, who then launched his project Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR).
The engineer points out that before colonization, having trees in the landscape was something normal. But “with colonization, there was a tendency to modernize agriculture, using plows pulled by oxen or donkeys, and the trees became obstacles. The peasants were encouraged by the authorities to uproot them and also pull out the stumps.”
Everything I need is under my feet.
Tony Rinaudo, agricultural engineer.
By dint of research, Tony Rinaudo has succeeded in discovering an entire underground forest that is extremely varied, with great potential for development. And in a country where temperatures easily exceed 40 degrees, trees are especially valuable.
Not only do they provide ideal shade during the sowing period, but also because farmers generally do not have fertilizer and not many livestock to fertilize the soil. And trees play an important role in this area, because they are fertilizers. Some are from the legume family and contribute nitrogen to the soil. All of them produce organic matter, which is essential for retaining moisture in the soil longer and nourishing micro-organisms.
The positive synergy of agroforestry
Tony Rinaudo explains the purpose of the approach: “We do not advocate the return of forests, that would not work, people must be able to feed their families through their crops, but we promote a system called agroforestry, which consists of a mixture of good trees at a good density alternating with land cultivated or pasture. This creates a positive synergy and is beneficial for the environment and for the farmers.”
But the agricultural engineer knows that habits and mentalities are difficult to change in Africa as elsewhere, where people continue to cut down trees and burn the land without discrimination. He therefore encourages volunteers to choose and protect the tree stumps that will be most useful to them.
Tony Rinaudo is aware that farmers are not going to protect and grow all types of trees. And the technique he teaches, which is called “farmer-managed natural regeneration”, must correspond to their objectives. “It’s not Tony’s method, it’s not me who decides, it’s the peasants who choose.” Peasants must choose whether they want food, wood to cook meals or income. “They have to find their way around otherwise they won’t continue the experiment.”
200 million additional trees in twenty years
However, the results are quickly measurable. “Fortunately, when you regenerate existing trees, especially when they come from mature stumps, they grow very quickly and even in the first year you are already seeing benefits”notes the specialist.
After almost twenty years spent in Niger, Tony Rinaudo realizes the progress made: “The average crop yield at the time was 250 kilos per hectare, which is really little, insufficient to feed a family. With this method of tree regeneration, yields have doubled. They talked about it and created a real movement.”
In twenty years, the method has thus been applied at a rate of 250,000 additional hectares each year and, at the end of this period, there were 200 million additional trees in Niger over an area of 5 million hectares. . “And that without planting a single tree,” notes the engineer.
Useful for the Great Green Wall
But could this technique replace the planting of young shoots? And could it be useful as part of the ambitious Great Green Wall project that aims to plant millions of trees from Senegal to Djibouti to halt desertification?
The community must feel that the tree belongs to them.Tony Rinaudo, agricultural engineer
Tony Rinaudo is not opposed to this initiative and judges that the two visions are not contradictory. He believes that in some desert areas, plantations are necessary. However, in his view, not enough consideration is given to underground forests and their potential. He wants us to look in detail at what works and what doesn’t, whether the seedling survives the drought or not.
The tree expert also notes the importance of belonging: “The community must feel that the tree belongs to them and that it will bring something to them soon enough. If this is not the basis of what is undertaken, the project will last as long as people are paid to do it, no more.”
And in Niger, the crazy white farmer has gradually forged a new reputation, that of the white farmer who greens the deserts.
A method that arouses interest.
Tony Rinaudo’s innovative technique also arouses interest elsewhere than on the African continent. The engineer traveled to Germany and Kenya to present it and was invited to COP 27 in Egypt to do the same.
World Vision Australia, the international solidarity organization he works for, will launch a campaign to reclaim one billion hectares of degraded land around the world. Projects have been launched in Niger, Kenya, Somalia and several African countries, as well as in Indonesia
And the method he advocates is now part of the list of good practices established by the UN World Food Organization.
Faced with the disappointments generated by climate change, pollution and the loss of biodiversity, this project is a “story full of hope, which gives people courage and the idea that good things can be done”, judge Tony Rinaudo , who sees in his method an effective and inexpensive way to reduce CO2 emissions.