The African country using refugees to turn Sahara Desert green

An African country is supporting a project that gives refugees land to develop, and they're turning part of the Sahara Desert into a lush green landscape. The Government of Chad, in central Africa, has a major destination for Sudanese asylum seekers fleeing violence in their country, where a succession of conflicts, including two civil wars, have broken out since it gained independence in 1956.

A third is now unfolding as Sudan's army fights a powerful paramilitary group for control. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have passed from Sudan into Chad in recent years, and the country has embraced a push to accommodate and empower them through offering them land to live in and work on.

The intiative is led by the United Nations World Food Programme, which offers life-saving relief in times of crisis around the world.

WFP's Chad deputy country director Alexandre Le Cuziat spoke to permaculture teacher and YouTuber Andrew Millison in a video on the project in March, explaining: "With this programme, for the first year we've been providing humanitarian crisis assistance.

"But very quickly we want to make sure we're going to create jobs, local production of food, and have communities that can be thriving again, instead of receiving assistance."

Andrew says it's giving Sudanese people a livelihood and contributing towards Chad's ambitious mission to restore 4,000,000 hectares of degraded land by the end of the decade.

100,000 hectares have been allocated to refugees to develop, he says, turning what were once arid desert terrains into sources of food and income for themselves.

Chad has huge areas of sandy terrain, as around half the country falls within the Sahara Desert that stretches across northern Africa.

Farmers, assisted by WFP experts, use a digging technique called "water harvesting half moons", which are used to trap rainwater during rainier periods, including the monsoon season. Without it, water washes over barren and compacted soils without soaking in, taking important soils and organic material with it.

But with them, "the rain soaks in, and all of that organic material collects in the half moon", Andrew explains.

"This layer acts like a sponge that soaks up water and blankets the bare soil, and this creates a wonderful habitat for soil organisms", which then "break down the moist organic material in the compost".

The compost in turn enriches the soil, and "water cools and moistens the vicinity of the half moon", he added.

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"And in a hot dry desert this cool moist soil is a wonderful place for crops to grow," and without the need for extra fertiliser.

Due to the moisture stored up in the soil during the rainy season, "the growing season is extended far into the dry season, where moisture can remain even during drought", the expert said.