Description:
This book has benefi ted from the contributions of the African and Brazilian participants attending the APPRI 1
workshop and from the expertise of partners in the
European project Agricultural Innovation in Dryland in Africa (AIDA). 2
The contributors to this book represent different sectors of rural development (i.e. research,
development, farmer organizations and civil society).
Agriculture remains the economic backbone of most African countries, providing
almost 70 % of employment. Food shortages, due to recurrent droughts and the
fl uctuations in price for edible cereals on the international market, make the rural
populations in these regions highly dependent upon the climate and outside aid.
The threat of hunger is ever present, especially in the driest regions of Africa (in the
arid, subarid and dry subhumid zones), which make up 45 % of the continent’s
territory. Agriculture in these regions, identifi ed as Sahelian or Sudano-Sahelian
(rainfall between 300 and 800 mm, spread over 4 months), is almost exclusively
rainfed. With such limited quantities of water, traditional food crops (millet, sorghum
and cowpea), cash crops (mainly cotton) or dual use crops (mainly groundnut and
maize) are possible, but rendered extremely vulnerable to the slightest variation
in the distribution and amount of rainfall. Market gardening has to contend with
wells running dry, while livestock production, usually transhumant, has to cope with
drastic reductions in grazing areas. Climate change, low soil fertility and domestic
off- take, amplifi ed by population growth, are all factors proven to aggravate the
cultural risk.