Re-greening the Sahel Burkina Faso and Niger has created roughly 80,000 additional tons of food
"The rediscovery and diffusion of traditional agroforestry, water, and soil management practices in Burkina Faso and Niger has transformed large swathes of the region’s arid landscape into productive agricultural land. In Burkina Faso’s Central Plateau, the rehabilitation of between 200,000 and 300,000 hectares translated into roughly 80,000 tons of additional food per year, enough to sustain about half a million people in the region. In southern Niger, farmer investments in agriculture are estimated to have transformed approximately 5 million hectares of land, improving food security for at least 2.5 million people" (page 19).
International Food Policy Research Institute, David J. Spielman, and Rajul Pandya-Lorch, “Highlights from Millions Fed: Proven Success in Agricultural Development,” November 2009, 19, accessed May 31, 2014, http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/millionsfedbooklet_smaller.pdf