{"id":5203,"date":"2025-05-29T18:05:06","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T16:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/?p=5203"},"modified":"2025-06-27T23:17:39","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T21:17:39","slug":"new-cultivation-areas-zai-method","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/en\/current-news\/2025\/05\/29\/new-cultivation-areas-zai-method\/","title":{"rendered":"New cultivation areas \u2013 Za\u00ef method"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"p1 wp-block-paragraph\">New agricultural land has recently been developed at CAAS \u2013 including for the cultivation of kinkeliba (herbal tea), lemongrass, and allspice. The beds were prepared with deep furrows for humus and organic fertilizer. We use an adapted form of the traditional Za\u00ef method, in which one-meter-wide planting strips are created instead of individual holes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Za\u00ef originated in Burkina Faso and was made famous by farmer Yacouba Sawadogo. The technique is based on small, targeted depressions in the soil that store rainwater, improve soil quality, and decompose organic material with the help of termites \u2013 similar to earthworms in European soils. Yields can triple, and at the same time, more CO\u2082 is sequestered than with conventional farming methods. At CAAS, this traditional knowledge is combined with current ecological approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1 wp-block-paragraph\">Additional farm workers from the surrounding area were hired to lay out the planting strips and plant the crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"720\" src=\"https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2025_Zai_1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5182\" srcset=\"https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2025_Zai_1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2025_Zai_1-300x211.jpg 300w, https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2025_Zai_1-768x540.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Hard work: For three weeks, up to 18 workers dug furrows in the ground<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"717\" height=\"504\" src=\"https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2025_Zai_Zitronengras.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5185\" srcset=\"https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2025_Zai_Zitronengras.jpg 717w, https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2025_Zai_Zitronengras-300x211.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 717px) 100vw, 717px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Planting lemongrass<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"720\" src=\"https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2025_Bewaesserung.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5194\" srcset=\"https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2025_Bewaesserung.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2025_Bewaesserung-300x211.jpg 300w, https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2025_Bewaesserung-768x540.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Alassane Bor\u00e9 watering the new plantings<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New agricultural land has recently been developed at CAAS \u2013 including for the cultivation of kinkeliba (herbal tea), lemongrass, and allspice. The beds were prepared &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"New cultivation areas \u2013 Za\u00ef method\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/en\/current-news\/2025\/05\/29\/new-cultivation-areas-zai-method\/#more-5203\" aria-label=\"Read more about New cultivation areas \u2013 Za\u00ef method\">weiterlesen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5189,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[134,223,236,237,235,234],"class_list":["post-5203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-news","tag-kalassa-1-en","tag-lemongrass","tag-soil-fertility","tag-sustainable-farming-methods","tag-traditional-knowledge","tag-zai-method","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5203"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5205,"href":"https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5203\/revisions\/5205"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caas-mali.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}