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The Nyankpa area is a bit south of us here in Jos, about 3 hours and it is more forested than the area here. But the trees are being cut at an alarming rate. Every day we saw truckloads of firewood being carried away. The Nyankpa people told us that agents will come and bargain to buy all the trees from a large area for around N10,000 which works out at about N1,500 per tree. When we did the teaching session on “The Importance of Trees”, Malgwi pointed out that they are selling each tree which has been growing for decades for the same price as about 3 measures of guinea corn (sorghum) grown that year.
During the workshop we asked the Nyankpa to write a list of local trees in their language. They reached 58 trees! The following day when I was teaching the session on Healing the Soil, we discussed a question which had been raised: “Our ancestors taught us that it is good to clear trees to farm. Is this still good?” First we brainstormed why their ancestors discovered that the soil was good when the forest was cleared. The participants said that the leaves from the trees and the dung of the wild animals would fall down onto the soil and decompose, making the soil fertile. So we helped them to think through how to get these benefits by the planting of trees, rather than the cutting of trees. We know that too many trees on a farm will make too much shade for crops to grow well, but a good number of trees brings so many benefits: they hold the soil in place and prevent erosion, the leaves fall and decompose and increase soil fertility, some trees have medicinal uses, some provide food for people or animals, and the trees can be trimmed for firewood for use or for sale.
Together we looked again at the list of trees that the participants had written on the blackboard and I asked them to tick which trees they would like to have on their farm. They all discussed eagerly among themselves in their language while we sat and waited. From the list of 58 trees, participants selected 30 that they felt would be beneficial on a farm which was wonderful! It was so great that they could see that they could have great soil like their forefathers and all the other benefits of trees as well by planting trees rather than cutting trees.
After that I wanted to help them identify which trees are leguminous and have the added benefit of bringing nitrogen to the soil. The farmers were aware that groundnuts and beans help the soil so I asked them which of the 58 trees has its seeds in a long pod like beans as these are likely to be leguminous. I was not surprised to see that most of the trees that they selected were also ones they had marked as being good to have on their farms! This is the traditional wisdom of farmers in the area coming through, farmers that have long been interacting with their environment and observing it well.
I reminded the farmers that the previous day we had read from 1 Kings 4 about the wisdom of Solomon who was so wise that “kings all over the world heard of his wisdom and sent people to listen to him” (v34). But what wisdom did Solomon speak about? Was it great men, or great books, or great sayings? No! In verse 33 we read that Solomon spoke of trees and plants, animals, birds, reptiles and fish.” It was so encouraging for the farmers to see that their traditional environmental knowledge is like Solomon’s wisdom!
The farmers gave really encouraging feedback when we asked them what they have learnt during the workshop. They said they see now that they should not be cutting trees just anyhow and that if they want to sell 10 trees off their land now, they should make sure that they have 20 or 30 or 40 remaining, rather than just cutting them all. They decided that they will plant tree seeds now and water them near their house before planting them out next year when the rains come again. One of the challenges of planting out trees is how to protect them so animals don’t eat them. We brainstormed a number of methods – using chicken wire, broken pots, car tyres, thorny sticks, manure soaked in water to pour on the plants, or even manure mixed with blood. I also reminded people that native species of trees are the ones which will survive best in this area, and that the timing is important, to plant them out when the rains are steady so that they can be watered. And we can pray! Our program is not called Farming, but Faith and Farming!
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