Production systems in the Lower Casamance and farmer strategies in response to rainfall deficits

A regional production systems team has monitored these changes since 1982 and seeks to propose relevant solutions to the peasant farmers" problems. This paper suggests that plentiful upland areas and the availability of animal traction to the north of the Casamance River have enabled farmers there to adapt to the present drought cycle by giving them the means to increase the production of groundnuts, millet, and maize. In the Southern Zone, essentially a rice production area with limited access to upland fields, farmer strategy is based on the intensive cultivation of rice fields and off-farm activities. The Production Systems Team"s research themes are adapted to these different agricultural zones in the Lower Casamance and seek to respond to the farmers" problems within the framework of the agricultural development agency"s recommended policies for the region. (Author abstract)