You Think Gardening Is Sometimes Tough? Then Try Building Gardens & Lakes in the Desert. In Chad They Are & Feeding Whole Villages All Year.
Table of Contents
Arid Chad
And if they can do that what can we achieve on our allotments and in our gardens?
Videos like the one below give me hope for gardens, hope for mankind and teach me a lot about how to garden better. I have been workigwith plants and the soil for over 50 years and views such as this teach me something new every time I watch them. Let me explain the video and hopefully you will see what I mean.
“Inside the UN’s Massive Lake Project in Africa”, Key Points
Lakes in the Desert
The video is part of a series following permaculture instructor Andrew Millison as he travels with the UN World Food Programme to parts of the Sahel region of Africa — particularly areas affected by severe drought and ecosystem collapse.
Key themes & content
Restoring degraded landscapes: The video shows efforts to revive lands that have been desertified, focusing on water management and ecological restoration to make these regions productive again.
Hydrology and water harvesting: Techniques like passive water harvesting (contouring land to slow, spread, and sink water) are highlighted to improve soil moisture and groundwater recharge, extending the usable season of farmland beyond rains.
Interestingly, in my valley in Devon, we are also “slowing the flow”, with leaky dams and other techniques.
Soil restoration & regenerative practices: Practical regenerative agriculture methods — such as composting, soil rebuilding, intercropping, and agroforestry — are shown as part of rebuilding the ecosystem’s health. That’s not so different to what we do in the UK.
Impact on local communities: As landscapes recover, they help restore local productivity, which encourages people to return to previously abandoned areas, supporting livelihoods and food security.
UN and World Food Programme involvement: The video illustrates how these restoration efforts are integrated into broader resilience programmes to address climate adaptation, sustainable agriculture, and food system challenges in the Sahel.
And in the UK techniques such as regenerative agriculture, sustainable farming etc are gaining more traction.
If they can achieve all of this in the deserts of Chad think what we can achieve on out plots in the UK. All it takes is an understanding of the basics of soil, plants and biodiversity.
