Moving Africa’s Drylands toward Modern Technologies

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Agriculture has come a long way since the hoe gave way to the plow and then to the tractor, and in the process these inventions have improved global food security. But agriculture is also responsible for land degradation—crops consume essential soil nutrients, land clearing and tilling pave the way to soil erosion, irrigation causes saline build up in the soils, and on and on. Food production is a necessary evil, but land degradation is outpacing its restoration at an increasing and unsustainable rate for ecosystem functioning.

But Dr. Venanzio Vallerani, who passed away in November 2012, again turned to the tractor and the plow to fix the problem. Working with the Nardi agricultural machinery firm, they designed three special types of plows, the Treno, Delfino and the new Delfino3, suitable for rehabilitating different soil types and for different uses.

Delfino automatically penetrates into the soil and reemerges on the soil surface, excavating semicircular microbasins that are about 3.5 to 5 meters long, and 40 to 70 centimeters deep, at intervals of 1 to 3 meters. It creates up to 7,500 microbasins with underground bags per day, and can also create them as contours. Up to 15 hectares of land can be treated and seeded per day, but to minimize the above mentioned problems and maximize results, only 10–20 percent of the soil is plowed.

Rainwater, its runoff and other valuable resources, such as fine soil, organic matter and seeds, are trapped in the semicircular bunds. This prevents run-off and enables the drought-resistant plants already sown or planted in the semicircular bunds to germinate. This soil-processing system raises the water table and makes two to four times more water available for crops, pastures, and plants. When compared with the manual approach to land rehabilitation, food production increases two to four times, animal and vegetable biodiversity rise considerably, while pastureland increases both in terms of quality and quantity up to 30 times.

The Vallerani System, as the innovation is now known, is a mechanization of a traditional water-saving practice that is widely used in the Sahel region— digging half-moons to trap water for cultivation. Vallerani believed in water harvesting and retention for the reforestation of arid zones. But his field experience convinced him that the labor-intensive initiatives in the Sahel, while effective, would have limited reach.

Mechanization was the solution to rapid and vast landscape-level restoration, and with the poor in mind, Vallerani designed and patented this system. Up to now, it has been used in 13 countries on over 115,000 hectares. Studies show that wherever it has been used correctly, the results are excellent. It restores hundreds of acres in a relatively short time and is highly efficient and fast, especially in soils that are not too stony or sandy.

In the Gansu and Inner Mongolia regions of China, Vallerani and Chinese scientists used it in a pilot reforestation program including over 3,000 hectares of degraded land. A study conducted afterward shows that it is

twice as efficient in catching water. Soil moisture increased by 60 percent and the soil’s compactness was reduced by 82 percent. The survival rate of planted trees increased by 50 percent. Delfino, Treno, and Delfino3 are not yet used widely, but they have great potential for reforestation, pasture development or re-greening, and for the international community to achieve the global aspiration of a landdegradation neutral world in a relatively short period.