Mali woman wins award for land restoration
Rokiatu Traoré received an award in Rome for her work restoring degraded land in Mali using agroforestry methods.
Her organization builds commercial value chains around the moringa tree since 2021 to create jobs for women and youths. This model produces seedlings while training farmers to plant trees effectively across the landscape.
Traoré explained that the group processes leaves, flowers, and seeds into herbal tea, powder, honey, soap, and dietary supplements. These products derive significant value from a fast-growing deciduous tree native to South Asia but now widely grown in Africa.
The resilient moringa tree suits drier conditions where it helps stop land degradation through reforestation or afforestation programs. Although insufficient research exists on its performance, the plant offers versatile raw materials for cosmetics, food, and medicinal products.
The alliance aims to restore ten million hectares of degraded land in Mali by 2040 to address severe issues. So far, they have planted one hundred and fifty thousand trees and trained over two thousand smallholder farmers in rural areas.
“Restoring land is restoring opportunities.”