Farmers from across Andando’s partner communities are receiving loans and additional training to help them to protect and restore the soil by bringing trees back into their fields.
Providing access to small loans ahead of the planting season can make a huge difference for rural farmers like Andando partner Ibrahima Ba.
Mr. Ba showed Andando his millet field which is typical for the region. Dry conditions, along with the annual burning of crop debris, has led to a deforested landscape with severely degraded soils.
“The soil is deteriorating more and more. But thanks to your financial support, I was able to get a cart to work with, and with my cart I spread manure on the soil, so I no longer use fertilizer.”
Mr. Ba combined Andando’s support with tremendous effort of his own, reducing his dependence on fertilizer and making his farm more productive and profitable.
His story is not unique. Andando’s microloan recipients are dedicated and innovative, consistently turning modest financial support into meaningful improvements for their farms and families. Their success has pushed us to expand the program and deepen support across our partner communities.
The first step is reaching more farmers. This past month, thanks to the generous support of the Rick Steves’ Climate Smart Commitment, Andando increased our annual loan distribution by an additional 100 zero-interest microloans, bringing the total this year to more than $30,000 disbursed to 300 farmers across 22 villages.
The loan distribution day has now grown to exceed Andando’s training center capacity. These are just some of the 300 farmers who received loans.
The second step is helping farmers build beyond a single season's success. To support this goal, we recently trained this year’s full cohort in Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration, a method of protecting and managing native trees that naturally regrow on farmland.
Restoring these trees within fields can rebuild depleted soils, protect crops, and make farms more productive over time, while helping restore the wider landscape.
Along with loans each farmer has access to trees from Andando’s nursery, as well as supplies to start their own nurseries closer to home.
Loan recipients, like the two women featured here, took home trees the very day of the loan distribution.
With continued follow-up and access to additional trees to jump-start restoration, these 300 farmers can begin putting that knowledge into practice. We look forward to sharing what they achieve this season and in the years to come.
