Una cura para el suelo de África. La ínfima calidad de suelo devasta enormes áreas de África. Plantar árboles y arbustos perennes entre los cultivos permite regenerarlo y, al mismo tiempo, aumentar las cosechas.

Summary

Reganold and Glover (2016) review evidence that integrating perennial plants—trees, shrubs and nitrogen-fixing legumes—into annual cropping systems can regenerate severely depleted soils across sub-Saharan Africa whilst simultaneously increasing crop yields. The authors note that over one million African farmers have already adopted such agroforestry techniques, though they highlight that soil amendment alone is insufficient for severely degraded soils and that ecological intensification through perennial intercropping offers a more integrated solution. The paper emphasises that broader adoption requires sustained technical and economic support.

UK applicability

The findings on agroforestry and perennial intercropping have limited direct applicability to UK farming, where soils are generally less severely degraded and climatic conditions differ markedly. However, the ecological intensification principles—particularly the integration of nitrogen-fixing species and perennial structures to reduce input dependency—may inform UK regenerative agriculture and agroforestry policy development.

Key measures

Soil quality indicators; crop yield; pest pressure; adoption rates among farmers; economic and technical feasibility

Outcomes reported

The study examined soil regeneration outcomes and crop yield changes resulting from integration of perennial plants (trees, shrubs, nitrogen-fixing legumes) into annual cropping systems across degraded African soils. Adoption patterns and barriers to broader uptake of agroforestry techniques among African farmers were also assessed.

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