The zaï technique: how farmers in the Sahel grow crops with little to no water

By Raphaël Belmin, Chercheur en agronomie, photographe, accueilli à l’Institut sénégalais de recherches agricoles (ISRA, Dakar), Cirad
Hamado Sawadogo, Chercheur en agronomie , Institut de l'environnement et des recherches agricoles (INERA)
Moussa N'Dienor, Chercheur en agronomie , Institut sénégalais de recherches agricoles (ISRA)

Hubert Reeves once wrote that “on the cosmic scale, liquid water is rarer than gold”. And what is true for the universe is even truer in the Sahel, the name given to the vast, arid belt that skirts the Sahara and stretches across Africa from east to west. Since 3,000 BCE, the peoples of this region have invested tremendous effort into coming up with myriad ways to capture and control this remarkably scarce resource. Faced with the poor distribution of water…

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