Leaders of forest and farm producer organizations from Togo and Madagascar took centre stage at the GLF (Global Landscapes Forum) Africa Digital Conference on September 15.

They headlined an event, the “Resilient Communities through Tree-Based Value Chains in Sub-Saharan Africa”, organised by the FAO Forest and Farm Facility and GIZ (the German Agency for International Cooperation).

The speakers shared their experiences of building resilience against climate change through Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR).

“Diversifying value chains can transform the future of food. In my country, Madagascar, for example, adding a large variety of trees such as fruits trees, medicinal trees, cashew trees and forest trees on our farms, is giving smallholders an additional income source,” said Voahangy Ramaromisa, chairwoman of the National platform of women, sustainable development and food security in Madagascar. “

The Forests4Future project (F4F) and the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF), a partnership between FAO, IIED, IUCN and Agricord, collaborate in six African countries linking producers and their organizations with processing enterprises, professionalising tree-based value chains. The F4F project, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and implemented by GIZ in collaboration with the FFF, aims to restore forests and landscapes as well as improve forest governance by 2026.

A GIZ White Paper released at GLF Africa 2022 cites case studies in Madagascar and Togo, where FLR and agroforestry practices have enhanced biodiversity and strengthened the resilience of smallholders to climate change by diversifying income sources.

In Togo, farmers adopted climate-smart techniques including organic farming, compost production, agroforestry, and reforestation on more than 1100 hectares of land. In Madagascar, approaches focussed on cocoa, vanilla, maize, beans and cassava. Off-farm income increased through timber and non-timber forest product value chains.

“In Togo, rural women have professionalized non timber forest products value chains like Karité and Néré. These can be food for people, feed for livestock. They’re also used as construction fibre and fuel wood,” said Bariétou Agbere, Chairwoman of the National network of women farmers in Togo (RENAFAT).

More than 12.2 million hectares of tropical forest are lost each year, and with them a major carbon sink.

GIZ’s F4F and FFF serve the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100), aiming to restore 100 million hectares of land in Africa by 2030. As part of that, Togo has a national goal of restoring 1.4 million hectares of degraded landscapes, Madagascar in its turn, 4 million hectares.

F4F and FFF work with groups of rural farmers, women and young people, thus reaching large networks, raising awareness of FLR and fostering its implementation nationally.

More information on the Forests4Future project "Giving forests a future"

More information on the AFR100 and F4F project