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Cassava plays an important role in improving food security and reducing poverty in rural areas. Despite its importance, its production in Senegal remains low compared to other African countries. Nowadays, it is confronted with numerous constraints. It is in this context that a study was conducted on the cassava production system in the Thiès "cassava granary" region, with the objective of examining farmers' cultivation practices. It was conducted in eight communes located in the department of Tivaouane, some of which are located in the Niayes agro-ecological zone and others in the central-northern groundnut basin. Surveys were conducted among the largest cassava producers in these communes. Analysis of the results showed that cassava is only grown in the rainy season with the same cultivation practices that have been used for years. Of the five varieties listed by the President of the Senegalese Cassava Interprofession, only four are grown in the areas surveyed. The Terrasse (43%) and Kombo (36%) varieties are grown more by our respondents in the Niayes area. Soya (75%) and Wallet "Parydiey" (20% of our sample) dominate in the central-northern groundnut basin.

International audience; The food issue related to population growth is at the heart of international sustainable development agendas and feeds the debates on the transitions to be undertaken or supported. Often defined in opposition to an intensive and capitalist agro-industrial pathway, the family farming model, which encompasses a set of farm types and farmers with varied profiles, remains difficult to consider in all its diversity due to its constant evolution. Some phenomena remain little studied, in particular the dynamics of land accumulation on farms identified in some sub-Saharan African countries. Our contribution, based on surveys conducted in Senegal, aims to characterize the profiles and modalities of access to land of 1399 farms, with the highest land concentration. At the scale of different agro-ecological zones, we show that the heads of farms with more than 3 hectares are mostly originating from the locality, cultivate family land and invest in agriculture income from this same activity. On the whole, these farms do not seem to be subject to a gentrification dynamic, characterized by investments by urban and rural elites, often not coming from the agricultural world, and who acquire land with non-agricultural income. With regard to land dynamics, surveys show that the majority of land remains under customary occupation although rural territories are in constant evolution. In a context where public authorities are emphasizing the need for agricultural intensification, through the promotion of private entrepreneurship and the agro-industrial sector, it is crucial to have a good understanding of the diversity of farm forms. This is all the more necessary as a land reform is under way and will help redefine the contours of the agricultural model, between productivity and the demands of sustainability and equity.; L’enjeu alimentaire lié à l’augmentation démographique est au cœur des agendas internationaux de développement durable et nourrit les débats sur les transitions à entreprendre ou soutenir. Souvent défini en opposition à un modèle agro-industriel intensif et capitaliste, le modèle des agricultures familiales, ensemble de types d’exploitations et d’exploitants aux profils variés, reste difficile à considérer dans sa diversité du fait de sa constante évolution. Certains phénomènes restent peu étudiés, notamment la dynamique d’accumulation foncière d’exploitations agricoles identifiée dans certains pays d’Afrique subsaharienne. Notre contribution, basée sur des enquêtes menées au Sénégal, vise à caractériser les profils et les modalités d’accès au foncier de 1399 exploitations agricoles, concentrant le plus de terres. À l’échelle de différentes zones agro-écologiques, nous mettons en évidence que les chefs d’exploitations agricoles possédant plus de 3 hectares sont majoritairement issus de la localité d’origine, cultivent des terres familiales et investissent dans l’agriculture des revenus issus de cette même activité. Globalement, ces exploitations agricoles ne semblent pas inféodées à une dynamique de gentrification, caractérisée par les investissements d’élites urbaines et rurales, souvent non issues du monde agricole, et faisant l’acquisition de terres grâce à des revenus non agricoles. Concernant les dynamiques foncières, les enquêtes montrent que la majorité des terres reste sous occupation coutumière bien que les territoires ruraux soient en constante évolution. Dans un contexte où les pouvoirs publics insistent sur les besoins d’intensification agricole, à travers la promotion de l’entreprenariat privé et du secteur agro-industriel, il est crucial d’avoir une bonne compréhension de la diversité des formes d’exploitations agricoles. Cela est d’autant plus nécessaire qu’une réforme foncière est en cours et qu’elle contribuera à redéfinir les contours du modèle agricole, entre volontés productivistes et exigences de durabilité et d’équité.

Background Up to now, efforts to help local communities out of the food-insecurity trap were guided by researcher (or other actors)-led decisions on technologies to be implemented by the communities. This approach has proved inefficient because of low adoption of the so-called improved technologies. This paper describes the strategic approaches to the development of a climate-smart village (CSV) model in the groundnut basin of Senegal. A CSV model is a participatory integrated approach using climate information, improved context-based technologies/practices aiming at reaching improved productivity (food and nutrition security), climate resilient people and ecosystem and climate mitigation. In this study, participatory vulnerability analysis, planning adaptation capacity and participatory communication for development were implemented, putting people affected by the impacts of climate change (CC) at the center of the approach. Four interdependent groups of activities/domains, namely—local and institutional knowledge, use of climate information services, development of climate-smart technology and local development plans, were covered. It was emphasized, how all this taken together could create improved livelihoods for women, men and vulnerable groups. Results The approach made it possible to involve local people in the decision-making process for the development of their adaptation capacity to CC. It also helped to set up an overall land management process by identifying and addressing environmental (sustainable resource management, ecosystem resilience) and socioeconomic (institutional organization, empowerment, poverty alleviation and food security) challenges. A monitoring survey revealed that farmers appreciate well this participatory approach compared to previous top-down approach in that the former allow them to own the process. Also determinant drivers of adoption of the technologies were identified. Conclusion Scaling this community development model in sites with similar climatic and socioeconomic conditions could help in contributing toward achieving food security in rural areas at wider scale because of better enthusiasm and engagement from rural farmers to pursue solution to their constraints taking into consideration constraints posed by climate and more need based and tailored advisory services.

Commercial Unmanned Areal Vehicles (UAV) are taking a flight: it has never been more accessible to own an UAV and as easy to operate one, e.g. a drone. For coastal monitoring these advances open a new world of monitoring such as inter-tidal beach topography through Structure for Motion. This paper aims to 1) show the potential of the UAV-based depth inversion with 2) limited georeferencing resources for rectification, comparing traditional field-based GCPs and fully remote standalone methods (few local GCPs and Google Earth derived GCPs) and a 3) novel automated error reduction inclusion for the breakpoint location. Unlike with shore-based cameras, image stabilisation is key airborne bathymetry estimation. At places that are hard to reach it is not always possible to get ground control points. We discuss the use of Google Earth to obtain ground control points. In all video-derived bathymetries obtained in this work, great overestimation of the depth is found around wave breaking which is often linked to a phase shift in pixel intensity (dark wave front to white foam). A new method to overcome phase shift issues around breaking is presented that results in a significant error reduction of 58% around the break point.

Thoreux, T.; Sakho, I.; Sall, M.; Testut, L., and Woppelmann, G., 2018. Trends in sea level around the Cap Vert peninsula, Senegal. In: Almar, R.; Almeida, L.P.; Trung Viet, N., and Sall, ...