Innovative ways of managing Prosopis juliflora trees in Somalia

Prosopis juliflora is a thorny, dominant and thirsty tree species that has invaded the main grazing areas in many countries in the Horn of Africa (HoA), posing a major threat to rural livelihoods. The scale of Prosopis expansion is dramatic in the region, e.g. more than one million hectares in both Kenya and Ethiopia, respectively. Widespread planting of Prosopis in Somalia took place in the 1980s as a response to deforestation during and after the Ethio-Somali war and subsequent droughts. Since then it has spread vigorously, invading at least 550,000 hectares in Somaliland alone. However, the Prosopis expansion in Somalia is at a relatively early stage compared to other countries in HoA and there is an opportunity to introduce management before it is too late. Between 2016-18, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Somalia collaborated with the NGO Pastoral and Environmental Network in the Horn of Africa (PENHA) and developed a project entitled “Supporting communities in Somaliland to ‘make Prosopis make money’ through Cash-For-Work (CFW) and small business development”, in Berbera, Odweyne and Toghdeer districts of Somaliland. This project was a component of the Joint Programme on Youth Employment (YES) between the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) and United Nations (UN). It aimed to create entrepreneurial and employment opportunities for women and youth to efficiently manage Prosopis pods by processing them into animal livestock feed supplements and charcoal. Moreover, the project established and fostered livestock feed processing cooperatives by creating market linkages.

Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	FAO
Format:	Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	FAO ; 2020
Online Access:	https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/CB0669EN http://www.fao.org/3/cb0669en/cb0669en.pdf
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