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    Farmers in Senegal learn to respect a scruffy shrub that gets no respect

    For decades, they've been told to rip out the Guiera senegalensis shrub. But now there's a new philosophy: The scrappy green plant could be the key to a better harvest.
    by Nick Roll Feb 20, 2022 5 minutes
    A <em>Guiera senegalensis</em> shrub grows in an agricultural test plot outside Thiès, Senegal. The shrubs used to be considered a threat to other crops. Now American and Senegalese researchers are conducting studies to see if the shrubs in fact are beneficial.

    THIES, Senegal — The instructions were clear – farmers should rip out the scrappy Guiera senegalensis shrubs, clearing their fields before the planting season. The humble, hardy, leafy bursts of green somehow thrived in Senegal's semi-arid climate, just below the Sahara Desert, popping up knee-high out of the sandy soil like a green tumbleweed.

    They must be competing with crops for water, the logic went.

    The policy began under French rule, at least as far back as the 1950s, and continued into the 1970s. The advice to uproot the shrubs has since fallen off the books, though today many farmers clear their fields by burning the shrubs before each planting season.

    But now, there's a new attitude among a small but growing contingent of farmers and researchers: Keep the shrubs. Prune them, trim them down to ground level,

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