Assessing the Climate-Smartness of the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP): What can we learn from Benin, Guinea, Niger, Togo and Chad projects?

Agriculture is the most important sector of the national economies in West Africa. However, the agricultural sector is faced with numerous challenges (declining soil fertility and land degradation, adverse climate change manifestations, demographic pressure, market instability and incidence of crop pests and diseases, etc.), compromising its ability to be a driving engine out of food insecurity and poverty. With the growing challenge of climate change and variability in West Africa, the agricultural production and food systems must undergo significant transformations to meet the interlinked challenges of achieving sustainability, increasing food security and responding to climate change. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is proposed as a solution to transform and reorient agricultural systems to support food security under the new realities of climate change

RENTABILIT\uc9 ECONOMIQUE DES SYST\ue8MES DE PRODUCTIoN DES PARCS \uc1 KARIT\ue9 DANS LE CONTEXTE DE L\u2019ADAPTATION AU CHANGEMENT CLIMATIQUE DU NORD-B\uc9NIN

The objective of this study was to analyze the economic production systems profitability for the parklands of sheas in the North of Benin in relationship with adaptations to climate change. Primary data on socio-economic characteristics of producers, adaptation strategies developed, and inputs and outputs of production were col- lected from 466 parkland of sheas\u2019farmers in Banikoara, Bassila and Bemb\ue8r\ue8k\ue8 Municipalities. The method used for the study was based on the COB-DOUGLAS model of economic profitability. The analysis shows that 70.71% of the producers in the study area develop adaptation strategies to climate change. These include reforestation (34.3%), diversification of agricultural activities (30.6%), cultural practice (26%) and adaptation of the cropping system which is practiced very little (9.2%). These adjustments mostly technical, implemented by producers have repercussions on their economic performances. In addition, cropping system and diversification of agricultural activities appear to be the types of adaptations the most economically profitable at the level of 1%.L\u2019objectif de cette \ue9tude \ue9tait d\u2019analyser la rentabilit\ue9 \ue9conomique des syst\ue8mes de production des parcs \ue0 karit\ue9s du nord-B\ue9nin en relation avec les adaptations aux changements climatiques. Les donn\ue9es primaires relatives aux caract\ue9ristiques socio-\ue9conomiques des producteurs, aux strat\ue9gies d\u2019adaptation d\ue9velopp\ue9es et aux inputs et outputs de production ont \ue9t\ue9 collect\ue9es aupr\ue8s de 466 exploitants des parcs \ue0 karit\ue9 des Communes de Banikoara, Bassila et Bemb\ue8r\ue8k\ue8. La m\ue9thode utilis\ue9e pour l\u2019\ue9tude \ue9tait bas\ue9e sur le mod\ue8le de la rentabilit\ue9 \ue9conomique de COBB-DOUGLAS. Il ressort des analyses que 70,71% des producteurs de la zone d\u2019\ue9tude d\ue9veloppent des strat\ue9gies d\u2019adaptation aux changements climatiques. Il s\u2019agit notamment du reboisement (34,3%), de la diversification des activit\ue9s agricoles (30.6%), de la pratique culturelle (26%) et de l\u2019adaptation du syst\ue8me cultural qui est tr\ue8s peu pratiqu\ue9e (9,2%). Ces r\ue9ajustements pour la plupart techniques op\ue9r\ue9s par les producteurs ont des r\ue9percutions sur les \ue9l\ue9ments de leur compte d\u2019exploitation. Par ailleurs, le syst\ue8me cultural et la diversification des activit\ue9s agricoles apparaissent comme les types d\u2019adaptations les plus \ue9conomiquement rentables au seuil de 1%