ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the foreign aid requirements for the Sahel-Sudan countries of West Africa to achieve an annual growth of 5%. It explores the underlying conditions to be met — both internal and external — for these countries to effectively utilize the aid program and reach a status of self-support in the long run. The countries of the Sahel-Sudan region are susceptible to major and frequent droughts. The most recent drought of 1972–74 caused substantial losses of lives and property. The donor countries shift the burden of solutions and implementations of development programs to the Sahel-Sudan countries, rather than have programs determined and imposed by the donors. Although the total area of the Sahel-Sudan region is approximately two-thirds that of the United States, its 23 million inhabitants represent a population only approximately 11 percent of the US Climate in the Sahel-Sudan region is the predominant factor in determining agricultural production.
