The Sahelian Eco-Farm (SEF)

Project Leader: Dov Pasternak, ICRISAT, Niamey, Niger

Justification

Current rainfed agriculture systems of the Sahel are non-sustainable leading to land degradation and poverty. The Sahelian Eco-Farm is an integrated tree-crops-livestock system that provides solutions to most constraints of the current system. Its wide-scale adoption should go a long way towards solving the acute livelihood and environmental problems of dry Africa. The Dry land Fruit Tree (DFT) system is a modification of the SEF where emphasis is given to rainfed fruit trees.

Objectives

• Conduct integrated basic and applied research in a wide range of environments leading to optimization of the Sahelian Eco-Farm system
• Study the means and modalities for large-scale dissemination of the SEF

Activities

• On station research studying the effects of all the system's components; individually and in an integrated manner
• On farm research studying the constraints for adoption of the systems by farmers
• Regional research on Burkina Faso and Ghana to study and adapt the system to a wide ecological and socio-economic range

Expected outputs

• Development of new environmental friendly production systems that provide solutions to major constraints of current dry land production systems
• Arrest land degradation and poverty in the Sudano Sahel of Africa

Partners:

• INERA-Burkina Faso
• INRAN-Niger
• SARI-Ghana
• SOS-Sahel, selected farmers