Sahel states vow to modernise agriculture

Directors general of national agricultural research institutions in nine Sahelian countries have pledged to modernise agriculture, as the enter they 21st century, AFP reported on Wednesday. The pledge was made at a meeting on Wednesday in Nouakchott, Mauritania, of member countries of the Comite inter-etats de lutte contre la secheresse au Sahel (CILSS - the Permanent Inter State Committee Against Drought in the Sahel). The Sahel - an arid belt that hugs the southern fringe of the Sahara desert - stretches from the Atlantic Ocean archipelago of Cape Verde in the West to Chad, some 4,000 km due east. The meeting adopted a triennial programme for 1999-2001 proposed by the Sahel Institute in Bamako, Mali, which coordinates the activities of national bodies fighting drought and desertification. The programme institutionalises meetings of directors general of research bodies and the continued evaluation of agronomical research results in the Sahel CILSS, which is also tasked with fighting the consequences of desertification, comprises Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chad, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal.