<b>A</b><b>zolla</b><b><i> </i></b><b>at the frontier of climate change:</b><b> A plant-based intervention for Sub-Saharan agriculture.</b>

Advancing climate change and desertification threaten agriculture and livelihoods in semi-arid regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa. Azolla, a fast-growing aquatic fern, offers a versatile solution through its value as livestock feed and crop fertiliser. Its rapid biomass production, nitrogen-fixing symbiosis, and ability to grow on wastewater make it well suited for scalable climate-adaptation strategies. In this work, we introduce the Azolla Vertical Overflow Reactor (AVOR), a solar-powered system, engineered for continuous biomass production under Sahelian conditions, while simultaneously generating purified water as a by-product. This perspective demonstrates the potential of Azolla-based solutions to enhance food security and ecological resilience in agriculturally marginal lands.