Trees are Taking Over in Niger!

In Niger, a big effort has been put forth by farmers to make millions of trees flourish. Neither the government nor foreign companies have helped accomplished this victory. Farmers took on the initiative and stuck to it. Soon after colonization, when trees were cut down for firewood, they realized that they could make more money by selling parts of the trees such as barks, branches, and fruits.

One very important point that Lydia Polgreen makes in the article is that during colonization, the trees belonged to the government, or settlers. The farmers had no interest in taking care of the trees. When Niger became independent, farmers were soon able to own the trees. This motivated them a lot and they catered to their trees because the more healthy the trees were, the more profit they would end up making.

In the beginning of the year, we saw a movie that did not seem to show much hope for reforestation. This article does the complete opposite. There are more trees today than thirty years ago. Individuals in Africa are indeed competitive! No one is forcing the farmers to plant more trees, but they are doing it regardless. One of the farmers bought a motorized pump to irrigate his fields. Since the pump is doing the job, he is now sending his children to school (who used irrigate the fields before the pump was purchased).

Since there is clearly ways to make the land more fertile, should governments from other African countries leave it up to their people to do the work, or should they do it themselves?