Promoting Sustainable Crop-Livestock Integration Through Farmer’s Participation and Integrated Soil Fertility Management in the Sahel of West Africa

Abstract

The sahelian climatic zone extends over several countries of West Africa. The “Sahel” region is charac terized by low and variable rainfall, ranging from 300 to 600 mm annually. In the Sahel of West Africa (SWA), increasing human population combined with long-term weather changes are transforming pastoralist systems based on transhumance and communal grazing of rangelands, and cropping systems based on extensive shifting cultivation, to more sedentary, intensively managed enterprises (Winrock International, 1992). As livestock husbandry becomes more settled, rangeland grazing is substituted slowly by crop residues feeding and cropland forage production, and feed shortage is becoming a major constraint for livestock production in the dry season (6-7 months) (Savadogo, 2000). As a result, most livestock in the southern SWA are integrated into mixed farming systems, involving the integration of crops and livestock.