We bring life back to the fields

In the Kongwa District in central Tanzania, soils have become hard, dry, and depleted. Decades of overuse, little rainfall, missing trees, and insufficient recovery periods have left deep scars. What was once fertile land now yields very little.

 

One of our current projects aims to change that!

 

The project builds on agroecological methods that are developed and implemented together with local communities. The goal is to improve food security and the income of smallholder families – while at the same time restoring soil fertility and the wider landscape.

 

Patrik Aus der Au, project manager at LED, explains: “We apply methods that work: crop rotation, building humus, climate-resilient crops such as sorghum, and sustainable livestock keeping. Local people participate because they can see the results.”

 

In practice, this means:
– Reviving soils through protective measures such as planting and composting
– Training farming families in better water use and storage
– Giving women and youth access to training and small-scale agricultural initiatives
– Sharing knowledge through dedicated learning sites
– Supporting political dialogue to ensure long-term impact

 

What difference does it make?
“We are not only strengthening individual families but entire village communities. It is about restoring people’s confidence in the future of their agriculture,” says Patrik.

 

How do we implement this?
Together with Biovision Foundation, Sustainable Agriculture Tanzania, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kilimo, and the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute, we are making this three-year project possible.