Tailoring conservation agriculture technologies to West Africa semi-arid zones: Building on traditional local practices for soil restoration.

Many obstacles stand in the way of Conservation Agriculture (CA) adoption in the West African Sahel. These include low amounts of organic resources for building biomass as well as competition for crop residues from livestock. In this article, the authors argue that complementing CA practices with traditional farming practices, such as zaï and intercropping with native evergreen woody shrubs, is the most effective strategy for soil rehabilitation and the development of cropping systems suited to the Sahel.