Cannabis is a versatile crop that has been used not only as a textile material but also as a drug since ancient times. This crop is widely called “ganja” in Hindi in South Asia, including Bangladesh. Ganja as a drug was allowed to be cultivated officially from Colonial India to 1987 by the Ganja Society Office in the Naogaon district of Bangladesh. However, some reports on the cultivation and production of ganja were published in the 19^th century, but no further information has been available since then. This study not only compiled previous and old records about them, but also revealed and updated a traditional cultivation and production system through interviews with the last generation of farmers who had experienced it. Cultivation and production techniques were highly developed and sophisticated to optimize a better yield and quality. The cultivation area was divided into three circles, and could only grow ganja in a rotation every three years. This unique system worked for good production and sustainable land use. The male plants were eliminated by the so called “ganja doctor” before they bloomed, with his particular expertise in order to obtain high quality ganja products. The production process was carried out in a fenced yard and managed systematically under strict surveillance. However, this accumulated knowledge and skills are being lost year by year. The results of this study of ganja cultivation and production techniques in Naogaon will play an important role in future production in Bangladesh.

Soil moisture stress is an important yield-limiting factor for rainfed rice in sub-Saharan Africa and efficient methods for capturing and retaining more moisture in the soil is needed. Sowing crops in the furrows of a ridge-furrow system allows efficient utilization of rainfall and improves crop production in regions with low rainfall. We examined the effects of furrow sowing on soil moisture content and yield of upland rice under rainfed conditions on 6 farmers’ fields in Central Benin, West Africa. In comparison to conventional flat sowing, furrow sowing resulted in 1.6% higher soil moisture and 11% higher yield (t ha^-1), in average. The yield increase was attributed to 3% higher number of hills, 2% higher 1000-grain weight and 6% higher filled grain percentage. As the increase of these yield components corresponded with significant increases in soil moisture content during their respective growth periods, it was suggested that rice yields can be improved by increasing soil moisture content, and that furrow sowing can improve soil moisture content on most upland fields under rainfed conditions. We discussed the differences in soil moisture and field characteristics between the fields.

In the Sudano-Sahelian Ségou, Mali, soil fertility in the fields has recently declined. Preliminary action research was conducted in one village to develop innovative cattle manure preparation methods. Field tests were implemented based on a study on the crop-livestock system in the study area to compare improved cattle manure preparation methods (IM) with the local cattle manure preparation method (LM). A participatory ranking exercise was conducted with the stakeholders for future scaling-up, which assessed that the IM with unpalatable matured-longgrass bedding techniques was compatible with the local socio-ecological systems. The quantity of manure and nutrient supply per cattle head per day (capital productivity) derived from the IM increased by 67 % and 21−56 %, respectively. The quantity of manure and nutrient supply per labour requirement (labour productivity) from the IM increased by 38 % and −15 to 32 %, respectively. The increasing rate of capital productivity was more than that of labour productivity; i.e., the longgrass bedding technique is labour-intensive. The longgrass bedding technique puts non-value-added long grasses left in grasslands to use, encouraging the nutrient transfer from grasslands to croplands and strengthening the present crop-livestock integration in the study area. The preliminary action research proved that the unpalatable matured-longgrass bedding technique could be an appropriate cattle manure preparation method for sustainable agricultural intensification from the millet- and sorghum-based low-productivity agriculture in the Sudano-Sahelian Ségou. Further on-site experiments with the stakeholders for future scaling-up should be conducted for the next step.