The trick to boosting crops in drought-prone, food-insecure areas of West Africa could be a ubiquitous native shrub that persists in the toughest of growing conditions.
Growing these shrubs side-by-side with the food crop millet increased millet production by more than 900 percent, according to a new study published in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science.
A couple of decades have passed since Richard Dick, a soil scientist now at Ohio State, was traveling through rural Senegal in West Africa and noticed low-lying shrubs that seemed to be doing fine despite arid conditions that had wiped out most other vegetation in farmers’ fields.
“I said, ‘Wow, there’s some biomass! What’s that?’” he said, referring to his team’s initial interest in finding organic matter to improve soil in the area. Since then, Dick and long-term lead collaborator Ibrahima Diedhiou of Senegal have discovered many ways in which the shrubs benefit soil and crops.
Read more at Ohio State University
Image: New research from The Ohio State University has found that growing millet alongside a native shrub increases food production by 900 percent. The shrubs irrigate the crops, sharing water they draw from deep underground. The millet on the left was grown without shrubs. The millet on the right was grown next to shrubs. (Credit: The Ohio State University)