A 700-year-old West African farming practice could be an answer to climate change

[Judi Lynn]

A 700-year-old West African farming practice could be an answer to climate change

Written by

Lily Kuo

June 22, 2016 Quartz africa

For the last 700 years women in Ghana and Liberia have been using a valuable farming technique that modern-day agronomists have only recently figured out. It transforms depleted soil into “enduringly fertile” farmland.

A team of anthropologists and scientists studied almost 200 sites in the two West African countries and found that women added kitchen waste and charcoal to nutrient-poor tropical soil. The resulting rich black soil, which the researchers call “African dark earths,” could help countries adapt to the effects of climate change as well as improve agriculture not just in Africa but in resource-poor and food-insecure regions around the world.

“This simple, effective farming practice could be an answer to major global challenges such as developing ‘climate smart’ agricultural systems which can feed growing populations and adapt to climate change,” said James Fairhead, an anthropologist from the University of Sussex and co-author of the study.

Food availability has improved almost everywhere since the 1990s, but progress has been slow in sub-Saharan Africa, Central America and southern Asia. In 2015, 795 million people (pdf) around the world were still undernourished—in Africa 23% of the population (pdf. p.3) was still considered hungry, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

More:
http://qz.com/713512/a-700-year-old-west-african-farming-practice-could-be-an-answer-to-climate-change/

[csziggy]

1. The scientists studying that should look at terra preta soils in the Amazon

Terra preta (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈtɛʁɐ ˈpɾetɐ], locally [ˈtɛhɐ ˈpɾetɐ], literally "black soil" in Portuguese) is a type of very dark, fertile manmade (anthropogenic) soil found in the Amazon Basin. It is also known as "Amazonian dark earth" or "Indian black earth". In Portuguese its full name is terra preta do índio or terra preta de índio ("black soil of the Indian", "Indians' black earth&quot . Terra mulata ("mulatto earth&quot is lighter or brownish in colour.[1]
Homemade terra preta, with charcoal pieces indicated using white arrows

Terra preta owes its characteristic black color to its weathered charcoal content,[2] and was made by adding a mixture of charcoal, bone, and manure to the otherwise relatively infertile Amazonian soil. A product of indigenous soil management and slash-and-char agriculture,[3] the charcoal is very stable and remains in the soil for thousands of years, binding and retaining minerals and nutrients.[4][5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta

Terra preta has been extensively studied and could provide a lot of information to the people studying African dark earths.