PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE INTENSIFICATION AND PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH IN SAHEL AGRICULTURE AFTER MACROECONOMIC POLICY REFORM

Policy reforms and structural adjustment programs in Sahelian countrie s have eliminated many public agricultural support programs, creating a vacuum that has not yet been filled by the private sector, Sahelian farmers thus face more difficult access to inputs and higher input cos ts, Input use has stagnated or declined, yet higher population and les s land for expansion of cultivation make it vital to increase the prod uctivity of already cultivated land through adoption of intensive agri cultural production techniques, While partial intensification is becom ing common, too little investment is occurring in inputs and land impr ovements that maintain soil fertility, control erosion, and improve wa ter availability, Partial intensification therefore risks being an uns ustainable strategy, Higher and more sustainable productivity growth r equires significantly increased use of chemical and organic fertilizer , improved seeds, bunds, and animal traction, The dilemma is how to en sure that such investments are financially and economically profitable and affordable in terms of government budgets. It is crucial to: (1) improve input access and reduce the unit cost of inputs to farmers thr ough infrastructure investment; (2) increase the productivity of ferti lizer and improved seed by encouraging complementary farm-level invest ments; (3) improve the coordination of input and output marketing syst ems, and improve incentives for private sector involvement; (4) improv e farmers' ability to buy inputs using credit and non-farm income; (5) reduce the financial risks of purchased input use through integrated input/output markets and innovative credit schemes; and (6) evaluate t he net economic benefits of selected agricultural support programs, in cluding input subsidies. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.