1. SIIL
  2. »What We Do
  3. »Adoption of sustainable intensification in dual-purpose millet – leguminous crops – livestock systems to improve food and nutritional security and natural resources management for rural smallholder farmers in Senegal

Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sustainable Intensification

Improving Food and Nutrition Security of Smallholder Agro-Pastoral Farming Systems by Integrating Crop-Livestock-Human Nutrition in Senegal and Niger

Lead Institution: Kansas State University and Senegalese Institute for Agricultural Research
Award Amount: $749,999
Focus Country: Senegal 

senegal people working in field

Lead Principal Investigators: Doohong Min - dmin@ksu.edu; Aliou Faye - aliouselbe11@gmail.com
International Collaborating Institution(s): Institut Senegalais de Recherches Agricoles (ISRA) – Centre National de Recherches Agronomiques de Bambey (CNRA/Bambey), University of Thies, Institut de Technologie Alimentaire (ITA), Agence Nationale de Conseil Agricole et Rural (ANCAR), Le Réseau des Organisations Paysannes et Pastorales du Sénégal (RESOPP)

 

Summary: Senegal is facing a difficult food situation, and the gap between national production and the needs of an increasing population has continued to widen in recent years. Millet is one of the most important cereal crops in Senegal due to good adaptation to high temperatures, severe drought conditions and soil types in most regions of Senegal. Many varieties of millet have been used as grains and/or raw materials for fences or roofs of homes in rural areas in Senegal. The main objectives of this project are:
  1. To ensure food and nutritional security
  2. To establish resilient farming systems via a holistic approach for rural smallholder farmers, particularly women
  3. To improve nutritional and socioeconomic status in particular for women and children in six regions of Senegal: Louga, Diourbel, Kaffrine, Kedougou, Kolda and Sedhiou.

These objectives will be achieved by using sustainably intensified production and management practices of dual-purpose millet and leguminous crops (cowpea and groundnut) with small ruminant livestock (goats and sheep) integration. In Senegal, millet is primarily produced at the subsistence level and hand-processed by women and girls. Cowpea and groundnuts are very important nitrogen-fixing leguminous crops that can provide nitrogen to millet. These leguminous crops can also be used as fodder for livestock in Senegal. Thus, intercropping dual-purpose millet as grain and fodder into dual-purpose cowpea or groundnuts, as well as integrating these dual-purpose crops with livestock, will help improve food security, human nutrition, crop diversity, livestock performance, soil quality (carbon sequestration) via nutrient recycling from animal manure/crop residue, biodiversity, smallholder farmers' income (especially women), and further women's engagement in farming. Additionally, this type of system will impact resilient natural resource management of water, soil, nutrients and greenhouse gas mitigation in Senegal.