When people talk about planting trees, they refer to planting new, young trees. These young trees ultimately grow into mature trees, providing lots of benefits for the environment and people living within the area.

In our projects we do not plant trees, but we re-grow trees and support new, naturally occurring sprouts to grow big. There used to be many trees within our project areas in Africa. Most of them have been cut down in the past to be used as firewood, timber, for charcoal production or to make room for agriculture. We teach the farmers in our projects a specific technique which helps them to bring back these felled trees and help naturally occurring sprouts to survive. This technique is called Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), or as we like to call it: Kisiki Hai, which means living stump in Swahili.

What is left of the felled trees looks like dead stumps. However, the roots of these trees are often still alive, causing little shoots to grow from the stumps. As there are many, none of them gets enough energy to grow.

With the Kisiki Hai technique most of these shoots are pruned, keeping only two or three shoots getting enough energy to grow big. The Kisiki Hai technique also involves protection of the shoots, as they are a really tasty snack for livestock and wildlife. By pruning and protecting the shoots, they can grow into big trees again! The Kisiki Hai technique not only helps to re-grow felled trees, it also supports naturally sprouting trees to grow big by protecting them from grazing wildlife and livestock.