The idea behind

A Social-Ecological System Approach towards a Sustainable Intensification of Agricultural Production in Sub-Saharan Africa (SESASA)

Agricultural production in Ghana and Burkina Faso is the main livelihood activity, contributing to regional economic activity. However, farming mismanagement has led to huge biodiversity and land degradation. The characterization of cropping practices and livestock systems is essential to propose sustainable management strategies. By linking farmer responses to social, economic and climate changes at local scale with policy instruments at national scale, SESASA aims at developing a modelling approach to assess land-use land-cover management scenarios. The vision of the project is to explore social-ecological interactions across different spatio-temporal scales and how conflicts between farming activities and livestock production can be harmonized. A model ensemble will be applied to identify multiple human-nature drivers, their impact on agricultural linked with local knowledge and stakeholder perception.

Vision of SESASA (adapted from MOHREN, 2003)
Vision of SESASA (adapted from MOHREN, 2003)


The project aims to address the following challenges: