POPULATION PRESSURE, LAND DEGRADATION AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGIES IN THE SAHEL

Increasing population pressure in the semi-arid regions of the Sahel has resulted in a breakdown of the fallow system, low crop yields and reduced availability of communal land. Adoption of sustainable, yield increasing technologies is critical to the future development of the region. A farm level programming model was constructed for the Central (Mossi) Plateau of Burkina Faso). According to the model predictions,farmers are induced into adopting yield increasing intensive technologies as land supply becomes more inelastic, and as the economic environment becomes more profitable. The model predictions are confirmed by recent field surveys thereby providing some grounds for cautious optimism about the future of Sahelian agriculture.