ABSTRACT
Research and development activity in Africa's drylands has generated few quick and readily replicable results. One reason why standard approaches to development in Africa's drylands have brought little success is that the environments are immensely heterogeneous. Despite the difficulties in defining, quantifying and explaining trends in resource productivity and degradation, it is clear that many parts of dryland Africa are experiencing great difficulties in feeding their populations and in controlling environmental damage, such as soil erosion, reduced tree cover, loss of wildlife and falling water-tables. The forced migration of people has also been a growing problem throughout Africa's drylands, often the combined result of military conflict, recurrent drought and famine. The argument surrounding tenure and resource management presupposes that technologies exist in which farmers and herders could invest which would lead to higher and more sustainable yields in crop and livestock production in the Sahel.
