The Soil Values program engaged in Burkina Faso’s sixth observance of National Tree Day, dedicated to raising public awareness of the importance of trees. Enjoying the high patronage of the President of Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, National Tree Day celebrated its theme “Trees: Resilience Capital for Endogenous Development” in Bobo-Dioulasso on June 21-22. During the event, the Soil Values program received a certificate of recognition for its commitment to the success of the 2024 celebration of Burkina Faso’s National Tree Day.
In its strategic intervention approach, the Soil Values program integrates an agroecological pathway, targeting the practices of small-scale food producers within agricultural landscapes. Since this approach plans for planting trees in agricultural landscapes to restore and strengthen soil fertility in the Sahel, the Soil Values program was well placed to participate in National Tree Day. Soil Values Director Dr. Bidjokazo Fofana highlighted the importance of trees in protecting soils and preserving ecosystems and cautioned listeners, “Neglecting soil fertility risks compromising the ecological balance and degrading forest ecosystems.”
The event featured two panel discussions: “The Role and Place of Trees in Achieving the Agropastoral and Halieutic Offensive 2023-2025” and “Trees: the Foundation of Endogenous Development.” During these panels, specialists emphasized the usefulness of trees in the development of the agriculture sector and recalled the need to develop actions to encourage planting and protecting trees in the various agricultural and forest landscapes of Burkina Faso.
Soil Values provided guidance on approaches to planting trees on farms. “Today, it is possible to practice agroforestry by integrating trees into fields, such as the rice fields at Bagré Pôle, provided that the right tree species are chosen for this type of farming,” emphasized Dr. Catherine Dembélé, Tree Specialist at the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF).
“It’s our duty to make farmers aware of the importance of these practices. The old approach of felling trees on farms is detrimental since trees are beneficial to agriculture. Farmers are beginning to understand that hundreds of hectares without trees remain unproductive.”
Dr. Catherine Dembélé, Tree Specialist at CIFOR-ICRAF
For Serge Zoubga, a water and forests engineer and program officer with Tiipaalga Association, trees are essential to the life of soils, improving their fertility by providing water, organic matter, and other essential elements.
“We are available to create synergies with all players working in tree preservation, with the aim of restoring soils in Burkina Faso. The Soil Values program promotes the association of trees and land as a vector for the sustainability of agroecological interventions. The program advocates for the preservation and promotion of trees for soil restoration. Soil Values is part of Burkina Faso’s agropastoral offensive,” explained Léon Zongo, Country Coordinator for Soil Values in Burkina Faso.
In addition to the discussions, the program hosted a booth and presented the program’s objectives, emphasizing the urgent need to use trees to sustainably improve soil health. Farmers, farmers’ organizations, students, agricultural researchers, and authorities visiting the Soil Values booth were briefed on the techniques available to improve tree production, including reforestation by direct seeding, in-situ grafting, and the planting of superior accessions of tamarind, baobab, and jujube.
The highest authorities in Burkina Faso visited the Soil Values booth, including Prime Minister Apollinaire Joachim Kyélem de Tambèla, President of the Transitional Legislative Assembly Ousmane Bougouma, and Minister for the Environment, Water, and Sanitation Roger Baro.
The program’s participation in the event was an opportunity to contribute to an environmental preservation initiative and to show stakeholders an example of the program’s actions. In fact, the Soil Values team participated in the National Tree Day reforestation activity on the 5‑hectare site of the Houet Provincial Environment Directorate, helping to plant more than 2,000 local trees.
For its contribution to the success of the sixth National Tree Day celebration, Soil Values received a certificate of recognition during the Night of the Tree broadcast live on Radio and Television of Burkina Faso (RTB). The award was presented by the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Sanitation of Burkina Faso, which praised individual and collective initiatives aimed at integrating the protection of trees in Burkina Faso as an integrated mechanism for managing soil fertility.
By participating in National Tree Day, Soil Values has launched concrete field activities in close collaboration with knowledge partner, CIFOR-ICRAF, and in a dynamic synergy with the Burkinabe Ministry of the Environment, Water, and Sanitation, highlighting the critical need for collective action in restoring soil health and protecting our environment.
Funded by the Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS), the Soil Values program is being implemented over 10 years (2024-2034) by the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), in consortium with SNV and Wageningen University and Research (WUR) and in collaboration with knowledge partners, such as AGRA, the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), ISRIC – World Soil Information, and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).
