Forest Garden Program

Zimbabwe

The highly acclaimed Forest Garden technology was pioneered in Sri Lanka in the 1980s and has spread throughout Asia. AFAP, with funding provided by AusAID and support from their partner, Community Technology Development Trust, took the technology to Africa to test its applicability there.

Forest Garden restores degraded uplands, improves watershed management, enhances local biodiversity, reduces local pressure on old growth forests and improves living standards. It provides farmers with immediate food or income needs and stable production through crop diversification. As the gardens mature, perennial food and cash crops gradually supplant subsistence annuals, enhancing the farmers’ long-term food security. This technology offers great promise to all countries involved, especially when their agricultural sectors are plagued by constant droughts, floods, pestilence and disease.