[T]he following article focuses on these agrosystems’ resilience, for which several criteria have been monitored over multiple decades by the authors to provide a more accurate picture of their actual properties and dynamics. The following sections provide an interdisciplinary analysis that takes into account both societal and environmental dynamics. The positive trends in rainfall and stream flows, reinforced by agroforestry practices, confirm the overall regreening and reforestation of the Sahel-Sudan strip, especially in areas with a high density of population, while a substantial increase in size of the areas of Sudan and Sahel-Sudan mangroves is also confirmed. The intensification of agricultural systems and the recovery of the water holding capacity of soils and catchments explain the recorded general increase in terms of food self-sufficiency in the Sahel as well as in crops yields and food production. Finally, we discussed the neo-Malthusian discourse and actual resilience of African agrosystems. The article concludes with a call for the empowerment of smallholder farmers to take greater advantage of the current wet period.
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4632811