Sahel JPC Value Chain Analysis: Summary of Initial Findings and Recommendations for Project Design

Agricultural production in the region is under stress, with millet being a deficit crop, and poor households relying on cash for food, making them net buyers of grain. Vulnerable populations are not subsistence farmers but rather are linked to markets, relying on cash for food and employment from better-off farmers. The key livelihoods of poor households in the Sahel region include crop production, small livestock rearing, paid work, and firewood sales. Main sources of income for these households are paid work, cowpeas, and firewood sales. Key productive assets include labor for hire, cultivation of land (less than 1-2 hectares), few ruminants, and poultry. The region's agricultural systems are characterized by millet-cowpea-livestock as core elements in three of four representative systems, with livestock assets being an important source of income but also a risk factor in severe drought. The target zone in the Sahel region is a grain deficit area, sourcing additional grain from Nigeria, which also provides a vibrant market for livestock and cowpea. Niger onion yields are the highest in West Africa, and Galmi onions are famous across the region. The region's agricultural systems are dominated by rainfed and agropastoral systems, with irrigated and lowland systems focused on maize, rice, and high-value fruit and vegetables, such as onions. The value chain analysis identified four key value chains: cowpea, small ruminants, poultry, and onions. These value chains have similar issues with business enabling environment (BEE), poor storage, unstructured trade, and weak value chain organization. Cowpeas, small ruminants, and onions have the most potential to grow and provide income, while small ruminants and onions have some potential to provide employment. Millet is dominated by the very poor, offering little growth potential but providing some local employment. Recommendations for project design include promoting poultry, small ruminant, cowpea, and onion value chains, which benefit from growing markets and favor participation of women and youth. For irrigated/lowland systems, value chains that increase productivity and reduce the risk of crop failure should be promoted. For millet/cowpea rainfed and agropastoral systems, water harvesting should be promoted to reduce the risk of crop failure. For most systems, livestock accessible to the poor should be promoted, and social assets, particularly the ability of well-off households to provide the poor with employment and food, should be strengthened. Across value chains, improving their functioning by reducing transaction costs, ensuring incentives to participate, invest, and upgrade, and ensuring benefits to all participants, especially the poor, is essential. Addressing common systemic constraints across value chains is also crucial. Environmental sustainability should be promoted through natural regeneration of woodlands to provide fuelwood and charcoal, an important source of income for the poor. A value chain approach, including farm-to-market linkages, access to resources to enable upgrading, and the ability of the poor to capture benefits, should be used. A push-pull approach, ensuring inclusion of the poor, should be taken, and a systems approach that recognizes the inter-connections among farming, market, and ecological systems should be adopted. Systemic constraints that could improve multiple value chains should be addressed, and the better-off farmers should not be ignored, as they are key to the security of vulnerable households. Regional markets should be included, and the government should not crowd out the private sector, upon which cash and employment generation depend.