A tree nursery in Cassou, southern Burkina Faso, is helping women to remain self-sufficient as well as restoring native forest, reports an article on the website of the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The women are members of the Nezeledoun resource centre, established in 2014 by the World Agroforestry Centre, Center for International Forestry research (CIFOR) and Burkina Faso's Institute for Environment and Agricultural Research (INERA). One of 4 in the province, the centre has more than 260 members. So far they have grown 160,000 tree seedlings, including shea, baobab and tamarind, using water a borehole established at the centre.

Catherine Dembele, associate scientist with the World Agroforestry Centre, says fruit and vegetables - like those grown at the resource centres - provide micronutrients and vitamins lacking in many staple foods.

Shea trees are one of the main species cultivated. “These trees are important to Burkina Faso's economy, as they yield nuts that are crushed into a creamy off-white or yellow butter widely used in soaps, cosmetics and food,” says the article. It is estimated that in Cassou, shea generates about 3.8 million CFA ($6,500).

Changes in climate - especially a decline in, and more erratic rainfall - has affected flowering of shea trees as well as impacted other crops in the region.

Dembele said the tree seedlings cultivated in the resource centre nurseries will be replanted in the forest, on farms and at schools, with each group receiving 50 CFA per tree.

The Cassou forest has become highly degraded in recent years due to demand for farm land and fuel wood from an increasing population. Shea trees have been affected because they have been used to make charcoal. They are not able to regenerate naturally as they are being eaten by hungry livestock.

Read the full story: Green-fingered Burkinabe women protect shea "gold"