COBA is a term used for community forest management associations (COBA’s) when forest management has been transferred to the local community. The objective of the Darwin Foundation project ‘Madagsacar: Argoforestry livelihoods project’ is to establish local nurseries within COBA’s to produce native species for reforestation / restoration and some exotic species for plantation wood and agroforestry. Ny Tanintsika works with 22 COBA’s within the Ambositra-Vondrozo forest corridor (COFAV). Ny Tanintsika has trained two nurserymen and at least one technical community agent (TAC) in each COBA. The TAC is responsible for creating a demonstration Agroforestry plot and sharing techniques learnt from Ny Tanintsika field agents with anyone in the community wishing to learn. The annual target is 20 000 seedlings produced in each COBA over 5 years.  If successful, this would produce roughly 2 million seedlings for planned revegetation activities within the corridor. The image below shows the type of landscape requiring restoration. ‘Savoka’ is the Malagasy term for abandoned agricultural land.

It is amazing to witness what Malagasy people can achieve with very limited resources. The nurseries seem very basic at first glance but produce several thousand healthy seedlings, enabling essential community reforestation projects.  Nurserymen receive very little monetary compensation, especially when considering the number of hours most of them spend in the nursery. However, they are given training by Ny Tanintsika field technicians in exchange for their services and receive the adoration of the community.  This and the opportunity to contribute to a better way of life for their families is sufficient motivation for their selfless contribution. The nurserymen are very proud of their achievements. It was fantastic being able to exchange ideas with them and assist them in their endeavours.

Seed collection of native species is done locally from the forest which helps maintain correct provenance and local genotypes for species.  Minimal seed pre-treatment is required to achieve high germination rates when viable seed has been collected. This is in stark contrast to many Australian species that exhibit many complex seed dormancy mechanisms. In Madagascar, often drying out seed prior to planting or soaking in water over night is sufficient to induce germination. Seed is sowed in germination beds or directly into poly bags depending on the species. Most seedlings are kept in the nursery for 3-6 months prior to planting in field sites.

Some native species exhibit very low survival and growth rates. This is most likely due to the absence of vital mycorrhiza associations within soil (see post on Mycrorrhiza). These mycorrhizal plant associations increase the vigour of seedlings by providing nutrients to growing plants that may otherwise be unavailable. Recently we began trials at some of the Ny Tanintsika community nurseries to produce and incorporate these essential mycorrhiza in the potting mix used in polybags for seedlings.