Land degradation occurs due to several factors, from drought, overexploitation and even climate change. These factors, whether isolated or associated with each other, are a cause for concern mainly for those who live in the region and do not have many resources to recover their land. Based on this problem, the Dutch organization JustDiggIt together with the Maasai community in partnership with the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust (MWCT) developed a project to dig shallow holes in the shape of a semicircle, which has already recovered 766 hectares of land in Kenya.
The land is located on the Kuku group ranch in southern Africa and acts as an extremely important wildlife corridor between Amboseli National Park and Tsavo National Park. There are 29,000 people who depend on the land as their main source of food and income.
The process for creating semicircles is simple, and can be easily replicated in other locations, such as Brazil, for example. it consists of using hoes to dig the semicircles shallowly in the places and then using the water retained by the rain as a rain garden, so, when it rains, the water will not go directly over the compact and dry soil, but will enter the land, reestablishing the water balance and providing the necessary conditions for the planted seeds to have the chance to germinate. Furthermore, the system also helps in the regeneration of the area around the semicircles, since thanks to the water that can now enter the soil, it can now spread to the entire surrounding region, thus, seeds located outside the beds can also sprout.
“By digging more than 150,000 semi-circular holes, we were able to bring back vegetation on the Kuku Group Ranch, generating environmental benefits and making the land useful again for the community,” says the organization JustDiggIt.
It is possible to use semicircle techniques combined with greater knowledge of the local water conditions, as is AquaExplorer’s proposal to assist in the management of water resources and in mitigating the impact of droughts and floods.
References:
ROSA, M. Buracos em semicírculo estão ajudando a recuperar o solo no Quênia. Available in: https://ciclovivo.com.br/mao-na-massa/permacultura/buracos-em-semicirculo-estao-ajudando-a-recuperar-o-solo-no-quenia/. Accessed: 7 oct. 2023.
