"More than 200 million people living in dryland regions of Sub-Saharan Africa make their living
from agriculture. Most are exposed to weather shocks, especially drought, that can decimate
their incomes, destroy their assets, and plunge them into a poverty trap from which it is diffi cult to
emerge. Their lack of resilience in the face of these shocks can be attributed in large part to the poor
performance of agriculture on which their livelihood depends.
Opportunities exist to improve the fortunes of farming households in the drylands. Improved
farming technologies that can increase and stabilize the production of millet, sorghum, maize, and
other leading staples are available. Irrigation is technically and economically feasible in some areas
and offers additional opportunities to increase and stabilize crop production, especially small-scale
irrigation, which tends to be more affordable and easier to manage. Yet many of these opportunities
have not been exploited on a large scale, for
