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Metadata only record In the Sahel region of West Africa, the traditional organization of the population and the grazing land avoided overexploitation of pastures. Since independence in the 1960s, grazing lands have been opened to all without specific guidance, and the vulnerability of the pastures to degradation has increased. Rotational grazing is postulated as a possible solution to provide higher pasture productivity, higher animal loads per unit land, and perhaps improved soil carbon storage. The objective of this study was to conduct a simulation-based assessment of the impact of rotational grazing management on pasture biomass production, grazing efficiency, animal grazing requirement satisfaction, and soil carbon storage in the Madiama Commune, Mali. The results showed that grazing intensity is the primary factor influencing the productivity of annual pastures and their capacity to provide for animal grazing requirements. Rotating the animals in paddocks is a positive practice for pasture protection that showed advantage as the grazing pressure increased. Increasing the size of the reserve biomass not available for grazing, which triggers the decision of taking the animals off the field, provided better pasture protection but reduced animal grazing requirements satisfaction. In terms of soil carbon storage, all management scenarios led to reduction of soil carbon at the end of the 50-year simulation periods, ranging between 4% and 5% of the initial storage. The differences in reduction as a function of grazing intensity were of no practical significance in these soils with very low organic matter content, mostly resistant to decomposition. SysCoor-2 (Farm/Enterprise)

Rainfed crop production is the main source of food and income in Burkina Faso. Environmental conditions are characterized by low and erratic rainfall, compounded by high temperatures and radiation loads. These factors make inadequate water availability the major cause for low crop yields and frequent crop failures. This paper outlines the procedure used to investigate the water-limited growth environment of an improved millet cultivar in Burkina Faso. A daily time-step cropping system simulation model (CropSyst) was used to simulate the soil water budget components and millet production potential, both spatially and temporally, by coupling the model with databases of soil type, long-term weather, and crop management using a geographic information system (GIS). From the cropping model outputs, two agroclimatic indices (Aridity Index and Crop Water Stress Index) that show the water-limited growth environment of the millet crop throughout the country were quantified and mapped with the help of the GIS. This allowed the identification of agroclimatic zones, as determined by the crop water needs. Millet productivity decreased from the south to the north of the country in relation with rainfall isolines and soil types. Locations with less than 500 mm of annual rainfall are marginal for millet, particularly on planosols and arenosols. In regions with rainfall above 700 mm, moisture availability is not a major limiting factor for the 90-day millet production, especially on regosols, cambisols, acrisols and nitosols. Overall, the approach followed in this study appeared promising for quantifying the growth environment of millet as affected by soil type and weather. It could also help to provide guidelines for crop water management and analysis of the suitability of improved crop cultivars.

Urban farming or Urban gardening (Urban Agriculture) is the practice of farming in a city environment. This practice of food production takes place on rooftops, in backyards, in community gardens and in vacant public spaces in industrial countries (JOB S Ebenezer, 2010). In the industrialized world, urban farming largely disappeared in this century in spite of the recent development of the green roof movement, but in the developing world it has persisted and since the 1970's has shown signs of increase (Nelson., 1996). Today, in the developing world especially in African countries, more and more people are migrating from rural to urban settings adding to the increase in global population in urban cities. Such growing urbanization has increased the demand for quantity and quality food production and consumption in the cities. The contribution of urban agriculture to these cities has the potential to improve livelihoods and provide economic growth and stability to the population (Nugent, 1997; Garnett, 1996). Also, organic practices can be further promoted in urban agriculture by transforming nutrient rich waste from landfills into organic fertilizer and returning it to the land (Nancy Simovic, 1998). In Cote d’Ivoire, migration from rural areas brings into the urban areas many persons with very little formal education. This may result in unemployment and under-employment of a sizable number of people. Urban agriculture may be a way to occupy the inner city youth, and new migrants. Urban agriculture has the potential for creating micro-enterprises that can be owned and operated by the community members with little initial investment capital. Horticulture is a vital economic sector for most African countries. Cote d’Ivoire fruits and vegetables export to EU (European Union) countries are estimated to over 360, 000 tons. In 2007, Burkina Faso exported more than 925, 000 tons of fresh green beans. In Mali tomatoes production was over 17,000 tons and okra reached 8,600 tons. Despite the economic potential, the horticultural sector including urban agriculture is confronted to pests’ attacks and phytosanitary problems. It needs to comply with the pesticides regulations and the quality control (traceability) standards which are now required by most industrials and export countries. Hence, the importance of the present initiative to study the problematic of “The Quality of Vegetables and the Pests Control in African Urban Farming”.