Modern Crop Management Practices for Pearl Millet Cultivation in Semi-Arid Africa

Pearl millet is the most important cereal crop in the semi-arid and arid regions of West Africa, supplying a large proportion of the dietary energy for the human population, nutritious fodder for livestock, and stalk for cooking fuel. This review focuses on modern agronomic practices for increasing millet productivity in semi-arid Africa. We showed that potential opportunities exist to improve millet productivity and nutritional quality while reducing adverse climate effects on millet production in the semi-arid areas of Africa. Millet-legume intercropping, agroforestry, crop rotation systems, fertilizer micro-dosing, and water harvesting techniques, along with improved millet varieties with resilience to various adverse climate change effects, have been identified as key interventions usually promoted for enhancing pearl millet productivity in semi-arid Africa. The benefits and their associated limitations have been discussed, and potential options for improvement have been suggested for sustainable pearl millet productivity intensification in the semi-arid area of Africa.