The photos show a visit to the Bankass District by about 50 farmers from the Tominian
District, which is to the south to learn about the "Regreening" activities of the
Barahogon association. Note in particular the picture number 17 of a typical field
in Tominian. It looks nice and tidy with quite a lot of trees and piles of ash where
all the stalks, leaves and twigs have been burnt ready for the field to be ploughed.
But look again and note that all of the trees are fully mature - the field is so
"clean" that there is no natural regeneration at all. Any seedlings that do survive
the dry season are burnt or uprooted with the weeds. We liken this to "A village
with no children"; in other words to a village that will not be viable for long.
In Bankass, deforestation was much more severe and there are very few old trees
left but the fact that the farmers now protect the shoots and seedlings which manage
to grow means, that it is a much more hopeful and sustainable situation. A high
proportion of the trees on the fields in Tomian are Shea trees which provide the
nuts from which the "butter" is extracted (so called because it is solid at air
temperature). As the trees age, their yield falls and they will eventually die,
so if there are no young trees to replace them, people incomes will suffer too -
and women in particular.
