The Potential Role Of Indigenous Resources In The Economic Development Of The Arid Environments In Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

In many of the arid and semi-arid environments which are marginal for cropping, conventional agricultural commodities and technologies are not able to increase incomes reliably or to sufficient levels to attract smallholder interest. Population pressure increasingly prevents the use of such areas for low- productivity, large-scale ranching. Often, smallholders can exist in such environments only by seriously depleting the biological capital. There is much which can and ought to be done to improve conventional agriculture in marginal lands but unless we are able to increase the value of the output significantly, it is unlikely that we will reduce poverty. It has become imperative to test the hypothesis that a more intensive production system is possible on a sustainable basis in marginal lands if we include unconventional indigenous flora and fauna in the production systems.