Cost, Drivers and Action Against Land Degradation in Senegal

Abstract

Senegal is facing a major land degradation challenge that poses threat to livelihoods of the rural poor. This study was done to inform policy makers on the cost of inaction and the costs and benefits of taking action against land degradation. The study shows that the annual cost of land degradation on rice, millet and maize -which account for 45 % of cropland area-is US$103 million, or 2 % of the country's GDP. The on-farm cost of grazing land degradation is about US$9 million or 0.1 % of the GDP. The low cost of grazing degradation is a reflection of the low livestock productivity. The cost of land degradation due to Land Use/Cover Change (LUCC) is about US$0.412 billion or about 4 % of the GDP. This shows that LUCC accounts for the largest cost of land degradation. The marginal rate of return to investment in restoration of degraded lands is greater than 4-suggesting high returns to taking action against land degradation. Action against land degradation will have far-reaching benefits for the rural poor who heavily depend on natural resources. Senegal has great potential for successfully addressing land degradation. For example, the large number of agricultural extension agents from public and private providers, promoting Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) practices, Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM) and strengthening public-private partnership could help increase adoption of sustainable land management (SLM) practices. The Dankou Classified Forest investment in awareness creation of ecosystem services led to effective participation of the communities and their participation in protecting it. This demonstrates that awareness creation is a key strategy for ensuring community involvement in protecting natural resources.

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“…The sample was stratified to ensure representation from across the diverse agroecological zones in Senegal. Each of the 14 regions has from three to four districts ( Sow et al 2016 ), as illustrated in Fig. 1 .…”

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“…Le et al, 2016;Gebreselassie et al, 2016; Mussa et al, 2016;Sow et al, 2016;Nkonya et al, 2016) The key drivers of land degradation are population growth leading to increased demand for food and fuelwood (cf. all the case studies indicated in Box 1).…”

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“…Degraded land affects everyone in the country, no matter the profession or lifestyle. 65% of the agricultural land is degraded (Sow, Nkonya, Meyer, & Kato, 2016). Approximately 22.2% of Senegal's population lives in degraded areas.…”

“…The creation of cropland has also aided in deforestation. From 2001From -2009, cropland has increased by 175%, mainly for groundnut production (Sow, Nkonya, Meyer, & Kato, 2016). With this increase in groundnuts, monoculture has been performed year after year with 50% of all lands dedicated to this crop.…”

“…This practice is normally done to get rid of the tall weeds from the previous rainy season, to be able to see predators in the bush, be proactive and keeping fires from coming into the village or field, or the creation of new crop or garden land. Because of these reasons, it is estimated that an average of 169,000 hectares of grasslands are burnt per year (Sow et al, 2016). Grassland burning results in ash, which could either infiltrate into the soil and thereby add nutrients or could be washed off by overland flow increased by the elimination of the grass.…”