Tag Archives: Vallerani system

The Vallerani System for Agroforestry on Degraded Lands

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Experience around the world has made it clear that soil pitting is often the most cost effective treatment to facilitate recovery of abandoned, barren land. Pits capture water and provide safe sites for seeds, collect litter, and help to protect and water seedlings. Pitting is relatively easy to do with hand labor and is less noticeable in a restoration project because the pattern can be varied easily, Hand pitting is best done as a communal activity so progress is clearly visible. But it is slow. mechanical pitters are critical to cover large areas. A wide variety of pitting plows have … Continue reading →

Go Big! The Challenge of Large Scale Restoration of the Badiya

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The badiya[i] is a region of desert, semi-desert and steppe covering 500,000 square kilometers (200,000 square miles) of the Middle East, including parts of Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.[ii] It accounts for 85% of the land area of Jordan[iii] and 55% of Syria.[iv] To the south it borders and merges into the Arabian Desert.[v] Much of the Badiya has become severely degraded by historic misuse over hundreds of years.[vi] Trees were cut and used for buildings, but more intensively for firewood and making charcoal. This pressure and centuries of overgrazing by herds of thousands of camels, goats, and sheep … Continue reading →