Policy Gaps and Opportunities for Scaling Agroforestry in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Integrating trees in farming and pastoral landscapes – agroforestry is one of the most effective tools we have for climate mitigation and adaptation, and for restoring degraded lands, while providing nutrition and livelihoods benefits to millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa. Agroforestry systems on small-scale farms play a crucial role in reducing household risks and diversifying incomes while providing nutritional benefits to vulnerable women and children, men, and youth who are locked out of the mainstream market economies.Despite these important roles and the widespread of agroforestry practices, there are several critical barriers that hinder its accelerated adoption, even in areas that have significant potential for these practices. We provide a summary of findings and policy recommendations based on a review of policies and technologies completed as part of the European Union (EU) funded Regreening Africa Programme, being implemented in Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Somalia, Niger, Mali, Senegal and Ghana. We argue that successful adoption of agroforestry is dependent not only on designing appropriate technologies but upon ensuring an enabling policy, legal and institutional environment to underpin the scaling-up process