EU Horizon2020

Synergetic use and protection of natural resources for rural livelihoods through systematic integration of crops, shrubs and livestock in the Sahel (SustainSAHEL)

Duration: 2020 - 2025

Funding: EU

>>>Project website

Research focus:

Focusing on the Sahel zone, the EU-funded SustainSAHEL project aims to enhance the resilience of smallholder agricultural farming systems to climate change as well as their intensification potential through scalable innovations on crop–shrub–livestock (CSL) integration. The development of CSL systems through innovation platforms will help increase both productivity and farmers’ income. The project is working closely with existing Africa–Europe networks and programs, establishing partnerships that could emerge as a model laboratory on CSL for the Sahel.

WP6: Impact on livestock health and nutrition

WP6 aims to understand and quantify the role of the selected shrubs and shrub teams for improved livestock nutrition, health and productivity as well as for efficient nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) cycling. Together with livestock keepers, WP6 will test the shrubs’ suitability as strategic feed supplement of cattle, sheep and goats. It will design a user-friendly calculation tool for shrub-based rations and provide site-specific recommendations for N and C-efficient manure and shrub-mulch use in CSL systems using simulation models.