CBFF - Phasing out slash-and-burn farming with Biochar

The project aims to phase out slash-and-burn farming by transitioning to a slash-and-char system that improves the quasi-infertile tropical soils by amending them with biochar. Biochar is a carbon-rich product obtained from the pyrolyais of biomass, which, by its micro porous and physico-chemical nature, improves sequestered into soils, soil fertility can be maintained, crop yields can be increased, and the slash-and-burn cycle can be short-circuited. The project is located in a region where farm soils are the oxisols typical for the humid tropics. This pilot phase aims to demonstrate the feasibility of the biochar concept, so that it can be replicated in other farming communities at the forest frontier. To achieve this, the partners introduce three implementation bundles, which, together, generate an integrated synergy. If the project demonstrates the feasibility of the biochar-concept, the soil improvement technique and its integrated socio-economic benefits can be replicated relatively rapidely amongst similar rural communities living and working at the forest margins in the Congo Basin.