BORANA
In January 2002, Michael Nickels was asked to set up a Dryland forestry project on behalf of Borana for the surrounding community of Ngare Ndare Village. The aim of the project was to convert the 25 acres of severely eroded land into a productive agro forestry project.
In April Jeff Nugent, a permaculture specialist and Michael Nickels worked with approximately 60 people hired from the local community. The project site was fenced from goats, sheep and cattle and about 5km of south wales were dug across the contour to harvest most of the rainfall.
A few hundred straw bales were also used to capture topsoil and silt eroded from uphill. Roughly 70 species (180 varieties) of multi-purpose trees (indigenous and exotics) have been planted from seed throughout the land. The focus of this project will be education.
A restoration project has been launched on the neighbouring school property. A further restoration project was initiated on Chumvi Group Ranch which is on our south-western border.