Reflections on two decades of research on sorghum based farming systems in Northern Nigeria and Botswana

Abstract

The paper begins by comparing farming circumstances and sorghum production systems in northern Nigeria and Botswana. The comparison provides a background for characterising farmers’ food security strategies. This is followed by a brief review of changes in research approaches that have occurred over the last 20 years in both countries. We propose that there is much complementarity between micro-level farming systems work and macro policy analysis in efforts to attain improved food security. On the basis of this perspective, we discuss in the fourth section some issues affecting the efficiency of future micro-level food security research.