The food demand in Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to increase significantly due to rapid population growth. At the same time, there is growing concern about stable food production in the savanna region, Africa's main field crop area, due to frequent extreme weather events and progressive land degradation. The development and dissemination of stable and sustainable land and cultivation management technologies are urgent issues directly related to food and nutrition security. Savanna areas are broadly classified into wet savanna with relatively high agricultural production potential, and dry savanna with low potential potential due to progressing soil degradation and serious agro-climatic risks. 

Using northern Ghana and Burkina Faso as model areas, this project aims to develop soil and cultivation management technologies that improve productivity, profitability and sustainability, and to recommend measures that promote technology dissemination, in order to stabilize small-scale farming systems in wet and dry savannas in Africa.

•    Development of sustainable crop and field management technologies and evaluation of their combined applications
•    Development of technologies for diversification of farming options in wet savannas
•    Development of soil conservation standards and soil conservation technologies for dry savanna
•    Development of cultivation management methods to minimize agro-climatic risks in dry savanna
•    Evaluation and recommendation of region-specific technology dissemination strategies

Ghana, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Mozambique

Small-scale farmers and extension agencies in the target area, research institutions in the target country, Japanese companies

NAKAMURA Satoshi (Crop, Livestock and Environment Division)