Sustainability and resilience of family farming in the Savanes region

The project is located in the north-western part of the Savanes region. The cropping systems are diversified, with a predominance of large cereals (maize, sorghum, millet) and a rather small share of legumes. Soils are fragile, often degraded in a context of drought and strong human pressure, susceptible to erosion and climatic hazards. Traditional agroforestry parks are declining. There is a high diversity of livestock but low productivity, linked to difficulties in sanitary and food management. The agricultural potential of the lowlands is undervalued and the control of vegetable crops is heterogeneous, with limited access to markets, the organization of producers is recent and still weak.

At the crop level, practices are very much oriented towards the irrational use of inputs (chemical fertilizers, pesticides) and there is an abandonment of traditional practices of fallow and rotation which aggravates soil degradation.  It is necessary to eliminate these mechanisms, at the level of plot, exploitation and terroir, through agro-ecological management methods and conservation practices. It is important to strengthen biodiversity by rehabilitating the place of trees in production systems.

At the farm level, improving economic resilience means strengthening small livestock farming and integrating agriculture-livestock, equipment (individual and/or collective), and making better use of products from sustainable practices (pulses, market gardening products, animal products).
The stakes are to strengthen the organization of producers, to make available to all actors in the agricultural and environmental sector technical and socio-economic references on proven and validated sustainable agricultural practices, and finally, to build tools for capitalizing and measuring the impacts of sustainable agriculture on the environment.

The project is organized into three components:

Sustainable land management, development of sustainable environmental management practices at the territorial level: agro-environmental characterization of terroirs, participatory mapping, training and implementation of agro-practicesecological, exchange visits and capitalizations, land conservation arrangements, equipment in donkey carts for the management of biomass and fertility, training in agroforestry, restoration of agro-forestry parks.

Sustainable economic strengthening of farms, improvement of their resilience and household food security: training in improved livestock techniques, improvement of habitat and health monitoring, development and enhancement of habitatsFunds for market gardening promoting sustainable practices, pesticide management and integrated pest management, support to producer organisations for the storage and sale of cereals and pulses

Dissemination of results, capacity building of local, national and sub-regional actors on sustainable agriculture and its potential for adaptation to climate change in dry areas: monitoring and evaluation of impacts on the environment and household economy  (carbon storage and fertility, adaptation to climate change, income changes), production of technical and economic references, capacity building, dissemination of results at the sub-regional level, consultation between local stakeholders.

• Develop and rehabilitate plots and degraded environments through the dissemination and adoption of agro-ecological practices;
• Initiate a dynamic to strengthen the presence of woody trees in production systems to improve the overall resilience of the environment;
• Improve the economic base and savings capacity of households through the development and sustainable intensification of small livestock farming.  The food supply of peasant families and their sources of income are more diversified, notably through the development of market gardening and legumes (soybeans, voandzou);
• Mitigate food and economic risk through warrantage and better inventory management and bulk sales of cereals and pulses;
• Produce and disseminate technical references for the development of more sustainable and resilient forms of agriculture. The capacities of local, national and sub-regional actors are strengthened in terms of sustainable agriculture and adaptation to climate change;
• Improve the level of consultation among stakeholders in the Savanes region to achieve the objectives (sustainability and resilience).