Alex James digs in to support Christian Aid’s West African garden at Royal Show

Re-creating a Burkina Faso garden to learn about adapting to climate change

As a former Blur band member, Alex James is also the UK’s most famous famer, and as such he’s joining forces with Christian Aid to highlight the plight of farmers on the frontline of climate change in developing countries.

At the Royal Show (3-6July), at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire, the international development charity will re-create a small piece of Burkina Faso, West Africa, showcasing how farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are adapting to the devastating effects of an increasingly unpredictable climate.

James, who will travel to Burkina Faso at the beginning of May to visit Christian Aid’s projects, said: ‘As a working farmer, I am fascinated to see how agriculture in Burkina Faso compares with the structure of farms in the UK. I’m looking forward to exchanging ideas and techniques, learning how farmers there are dealing with the challenges presented by climate change and then bringing this back to the Royal Show audience.’

Christian Aid’s Karen Hedges points out that climate change is also affecting farmers closer to home: ‘Farmers in the UK are increasingly facing changing weather patterns and having to adapt their practices accordingly, as are the eighty percent of subsistence farmers in Burkina Faso.’ Christian Aid is keen to encourage the sharing of ideas and new technologies as, ‘these changes have devastating consequences when you make your living from the land, no matter where you live’.

The Royal Show garden will demonstrate simple soil and water conservation techniques being used by farmers in order to help them combat the ever present threat from drought and floods. It will look at the use of natural fertilisers, bio pesticides and planting techniques used to help them grow more crops to feed their families. It will also show how Christian Aid is working with remote communities, who until now have had no access to electricity, to harness new solar technologies.

If you book your tickets for the Royal Show through Christian Aid’s website, 10 per cent of the cover price will go to the charity, raising funds for climate related projects across Africa, Asia and Latin America.