The irrigated and improved lowland agricultural systems are not resulting neither in a significant increase in resilience and food security for smallholders nor in a motor for economic growth in West Africa (WA). However, the potential benefits of water-managed agricultural systems are enormous in WA. Irrigated agriculture increases cropping intensity, diversity and productivity; contributes to develop food markets and agroindustry; and generates employment; conversely, it has environmental implications. It is hypothesized here that Sustainable Intensification (SI) of watermanaged agricultural systems is the pathway to a new, dynamic, inclusive, market-oriented, technology-based agriculture. SI is not achieved through stand-alone technology but by combining technologies and governance to design productions systems that are best adapted to local conditions. The consortium, integrated by five African institutions (SARI and UDS, in Ghana, ISRA and UGB in Senegal, and INERA in Burkina Faso), five European institutions (IRD and CIRAD in France, WUR in The Netherlands, CIHEAM-Bari in Italy, and CSIC in Spain, the coordinator), and five associate partners (CILSS, AECID and three companies), envisions SI as the springboard that will transform irrigation and lowland communities into resilient, food-secure communities improving their wellbeing through economic growth. The project aspires to change the development paradigm for irrigated and other water-managed agricultures in WA and identify environmental-friendly systems in WA and Spain. The identification of current performance gaps and benchmarks and of a new set of SI solutions will be followed by co-innovation within the project innovation hubs, working simultaneously at different scales (from plot to scheme/improved lowland system). These hubs, where women and youth will be preferred target adopters, will catalyze the change in their respective areas of influence, with a multiplier effect supported by an ICT platform.

The overall objective of SustainSAHEL is to enhance the resilience and intensification potential of smallholder agricultural farming systems to climate change through scalable innovations on crop-shrub-livestock (CSL) integration. SustainSAHEL aims to develop CSL systems through innovation platforms (IPs) in order to improve productivity and farmers’ income. We will assess adoption and scaling potential of improved CSL integration, while simultaneously optimizing proven technologies, improving herder-farmer cooperation, tackling socio-economic constraints for adoption and contributing to local economic revival. Our approach is embedded within the production systems of agro-ecology and organic agriculture, while comprising elements of conservation agriculture. Investigations on CSL, as well as soil quality and hydrology will be conducted through on-station and on-farm experiments and demonstration plots. We will identify drought resistant shrub teams that are in synchrony with livestock requirements, and reduced tillage options that enhances the soil water capture and holding capacity. At the regional level, landscape modelling scenarios will analyse the promoted systems’ resilience to climate change in West Africa. Dissemination activities will respond to the identified needs of youth and women and shall assure effective scaling of successfully tested innovations beyond the targeted regions. Systems approaches are a core concept of SustainSAHEL and reflect the linkage of biophysical, socio-economic, cultural and political realities. The project examines long-term economic support to local communities and improvement of agricultural practices through close cooperation with farmer organisations. Working closely with existing Africa-Europe networks and programs, the established partnerships will quickly evolve into a model laboratory on CSL for the Sahel and institutionalize science-based practices of sustainable intensification under challenging conditions.