Dryland cereals and legumes are important crops in farming systems across the world. Yet they are frequently neglected among the priorities for international agricultural research and development, often due to lack of information on their magnitude and extent. Given what we know about the global distribution of dryland cereals and legumes, what regions should be high priority for research and development to improve livelihoods and food security? This research evaluated the geographic dimensions of these crops and the farming systems where they are found worldwide.

Presents papers dealing with the use of crop residues as livestock feed in smallholder crop/livestock farming systems, and the role of plant breeding in maintaining or improving their nutritive value. Discusses factors limiting the nutritive value of crop residues, and the effect of genotype and environment on the nutritive value of crop residues. Outlines perspectives and implications for crop improvement programmes. Includes recommendations.

As the problems of impact assessement are rather intractable, a fairly simple dual approach is proposed. First the major components of environmental impact of current agricultural production systems in Africa (i.e. impact of cropping, livestock keeping, fuelwood and timber extraction and burning) are summarised. Second, "danger zones" in which current and future environmental impacts will be most severe and on which ILCA has focused its problem solving-research is identified.