ABSTRACT
References ................................................................................................................................... 399
Low soil fertility and surface sealing, leading to severe water loss through runoff and to
a drastic decline in vegetation cover, are major Sahelian agricultural constraints
(Casenave and Valentin, 1989; Bationo and Mokwunye, 1991). Owing to lack of financial
resources it is often not possible for farmers to utilize external inputs to solve these
problems. Increasingly, attention has focused on low-cost but effective alternative
solutions. Given the region’s poverty, new innovations will only get adopted if they
are cheap, easily accessible, and minimize the use of external inputs. Further, the chances
for adoption will be higher if the proposed technology is based on some improvement
of traditional practices.
