Rain-fed agriculture provides employment for millions of smallholder farmers on the African continent, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, where an estimated 95 percent of cultivated land is unirrigated. But climatic shocks – including prolonged dry seasons and irregular rainfall – are depleting the fertility and productivity of soils, and jeopardizing the health and resilience of communities that depend on them for food, nutrition and livelihoods security. This white paper examines how biochar – a biomass product obtained through heating organic matter in zero- or low-oxygen environments – can support rural, isolated and low-to-middle income communities to overcome these obstacles, while simultaneously promoting enhanced restoration and management of degraded drylands that part of GLF Africa: Restoring Africa’s Drylands.
