The research projects
Food insecurity in Africa
January 2005
Marked recent trends in Africa are tensions over farm prices, competition from energy crops and large-scale buy-ups of farmland in the poorest countries. Coupled with sustained population growth, they have made food insecurity in Africa a topical issue again, while the global food outlook also ...
Geodynamics of mineral resources in West Africa
January 2006
Mineral resources account for more than 50% of exports from the 19 West African countries involved in the Agremoa programme. They play a crucial role in the region’s development. The IRD and its partners are working to improve understanding of the geological structure and geodynamics of the West ...
Intermittent preventive treatment against malaria: fresh hope for children
January 2005
Malaria kills one to three million people a year worldwide, most of them in tropical Africa. It is the foremost cause of infant death in the Sahelian zone, especially among under-fives, and increasing drug resistance is making this situation worse. New anti-malaria treatments and fresh ...
Lake Chad : Adapting to a fluctuating resource
Lake Chad, located in the heart of the Sahel strip, is a vital water resource for fishermen, herders and crop farmers in the countries that border its shores − Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon. The lake has undergone enormous changes in recent decades. A multidisciplinary research program ...
Millet : Cultivating diversity
January 2003
Millet has been an important plant for human civilisation. In sub-Saharan Africa it is still, along with sorghum, a dietary staple. But population growth, climatic variability, environmental degradation, inefficient cropping methods and lack of research have combined to generate a shortfall in ...
Saharan migration: the truth a far cry from popular myths
January 2004
Migration from sub-Saharan Africa to North Africa has increased as never before over the past 15 years or so. What routes are the migrants following and how are they settling in North Africa? What social and spatial changes are these new settlement patterns generating? What effects are today’s ...
Sahel : Cereals adapt to changing climate
January 2003
The Southern countries’ agricultural output, and hence their peoples’ food security, is strongly affected by climate change. This is particularly true in the Sahel, which has suffered periods of extreme drought since the 1970s. One major issue for the region’s food security is to conserve the ...
Synergy between insecticide and repellent to combat malaria-carrying mosquitoes
January 2007
With 40% of the world’s population, mainly in the poorest countries, exposed to malaria risk and over 500 million people falling ill with the disease each year, it is still the most worrying tropical parasite disease. Most deaths from malaria occur in sub-Saharan Africa and most of those who die ...
The African monsoon in the spotlight
January 2000
Since 2000, French researchers have launched a vast international multidisciplinary programme to improve understanding of the African monsoon and its variations. In 2006, exceptional resources were mobilised for large-scale field surveys. The African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses programme ...
To halt land degradation in sub-Saharan Africa
January 2003
The IRD is closely involved in the Desert Margins Programme, whose aim is to halt land degradation in sub-Saharan Africa and open the way to sustainable farming there. The programme is supported by the United National Environment Programme and the World Environment Fund. More than 120 million ...
