In the savanna region, a major field crop area in Africa, there is a need to develop and disseminate stable, productive, and profitable soil and cultivation management technologies for stable food production and poverty alleviation among smallholder farmers. Savanna areas are broadly classified into wet savanna, which has relatively high agricultural production potential, and dry savanna, which is subject to severe soil degradation and agro-climatic risks.
 
JIRCAS is implementing the Africa upland farming system project which aims to develop soil and agronomic management technologies that improve productivity, profitability, and sustainability of small-scale field crop systems in wet and dry savannas in Africa, and to propose measures to promote the diffusion of these technologies, using northern Ghana and Burkina Faso as model areas. 

We have developed and released the Builder of Farming Model — BFMgh and BFMbf, programs to assist local smallholder farmers in efficiently making decisions, including technology selection, to support the preparation of optimal farming plans. 
 
BFMgh is an English language program developed for Ghana and BFMbf is a French language program developed for Burkina Faso. Both programs make it easy to find the best combination of crops and technologies to maximize farm income. In doing so, users can also add conditions for the implementation of mixed cropping and self-sufficiency in a variety of crops, which are risk measures for local farmers.
 
These programs will facilitate field crop support and technology diffusion among smallholder farmers in Ghana and Burkina Faso, contributing to food security and income enhancement.