H. Breman

Agricultural development in the West African Sahelian region: a cure against land hunger?

Abstract Animal husbandry and arable farming in some West African countries are analysed with respect to the potential of the natural resources. It is demonstrated that low soil fertility is often the major constraint for production, both for food grains and for natural vegetation. The result is that the quality of the organic material used as forage is also low, which constrains animal production. Animal husbandry shows a trend of moving southwards and becoming more sedentary, which decreases production potential and leads to changing production targets. Arable farming without the use of external inputs increasingly exhausts the soil, with the risk of degradation. The integration of arable farming and animal husbandry often strengthens the former, but hardly improves animal production. It is argued that the only remedy for agriculture in the region is increased production per unit area by the application of external inputs. This will require a changing price policy to make it economically viable, and can only be achieved through solidarity of the international community in the area of agricultural trade policies.

Integrated crop management: an approach to sustainable agricultural development.

In developing countries, agriculture is being intensified to produce more food and agricultural products. In most agricultural development strategies, the order of priorities is on: (i) increasing yields, (ii) crop protection, and (iii) human health, environmental and social aspects. This sequential rather than integrated approach contributes to many problems related to sustainability in agriculture. Examples of increased problems with soil erosion, secondary salinization and waterlogging, soil nutrient depletion, increased pest problems, public health hazards and environmental pollution illustrate this phenomenon. To improve the present situation, agricultural development strategies should be based on an integration of factors determining the agricultural production potential of a particular zone: the biophysical environment, the land reclamation level, and external input use. Integrated Crop Management and systems analyses can help to put these factors in the best perspective, and to set the priorities for agricultural research and development accordingly. Techniques aimed at sustainability are listed, and their use is discussed in areas with different production potentials. To assess the impact of cropping techniques on the sustainability of agricultural production systems, suggestions are made for the monitoring of selected physical, chemical and biotic characteristics of agro-ecosystems.