**4. Impacts from technology deployment**

**Table 2** presents findings for millet and sorghum from the TAAT Program in seven countries of the Sahel [18]. ICRISAT coordinated this effort based on the delivery of "technology toolkits" through national programs. Millet and sorghum yields were improved by 133% and 140%, respectively, and reached nearly 84,000 households


#### **Table 2.**

*Benefits from adopting improved technologies for millet and sorghum in the Sahel between 2018 and 2020.*

managing about 124,000 ha and leading to the increased production of 199,000 MT of grain worth US \$42 million. Individual households greatly benefited in terms of food security, and the average increase income from participating in the technology delivery effort was about US \$504 (calculated as a weighted average from **Table 2**). Activities involved 16 partnerships and delivered 1391 MT of improved certified seed. The right technologies taken to scale can deliver benefits to partnering farming communities that rely upon millet and sorghum as a staple crop.

Investment in TAAT technologies results in economic gain across a wider selection of commodities as well. **Table 3** provides information on the increased yields of five cereal crops (rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, and millet), increased cost of production and economic returns to that investment. The average increased productivity was 1.3 MT ha−1 worth US \$333 resulting from \$136 increased investment, mostly as fertilizers. This results in an average increased value of US \$197, ranging from \$85 (for millet) and \$299 for rice. Note that except for rice, these crops were grown under rainfed conditions. The partial benefit to cost ratio ranges between 1.8:1 (for millet) and 3.2:1 (for maize), suggesting that economic returns are solid but not spectacular.

**Table 4** shows projections of carbon sequestration resulting from TAAT interventions to cereal production including system gains, values, and household contributions. These projections are based on reports of increased yield, coverage, numbers of adopters (see **Table 2**), and assumptions concerning biomass, moisture content, Harvest Index, crop carbon content, CO2e:crop C ratio, planning horizons, and the price of CO2e. This approximation allows for the estimation of realizable gains of CO2e associated with increased biomass and residual benefits in terms of CO2e gain per ha and as total average gain per project-year and household [18]. Realizable gains were achieved based on increased focus upon climate-smart field practices and products within the technology toolkits employed by participating farmers and development projects. This approach results in estimated CO2e gains averaging 4.4 MT ha−1 across these five cereals and a total of 2.1 million MT of CO2e per year worth about US \$65 million. When the number of adopters is considered, this amounts to per capita emissions reductions of 1.5 MT CO2e per household per year, similar to the targets established by Branca et al. [38] and Lipper et al. [39]. This analysis is incomplete, as it does not take into account carbon losses from other farming practices; rather it focuses on peak seasonal increases.

The feasibility of organizing small-scale African farmers into a force devoted to carbon sequestration is an exciting opportunity, but one that does not greatly benefit individual climate-smart practitioners from the standpoint of direct financial benefit as their gains are worth only \$16 household per year at current prices of CO2e.


#### **Table 3.**

*Economic returns to technology investment in cereals based on TAAT toolkit packages (2018–2020).*

*Blending Climate Action and Rural Development in Africa's Sahel DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.103817*


*1 Mean weighted by coverage from* **Table 2***, ± standard error of the mean.*

*2 Based on US \$22 per MT CO2e. <sup>3</sup>*

*Based on the annual increase of CO2e and overall mean weighted by beneficiary households from* **Table 2***.*

#### **Table 4.**

*Estimated carbon offsets from the adoption of TAAT technologies by African cereal producers (based on [18]).*

The benefits of climate-smart technologies are perhaps better advanced in terms of improved livelihood and agricultural resource quality and then factored in terms of realizing national commitments at the landscape level; rather than presented to farmers as an income generating opportunity.
