The semi-arid climate in the study area has low, highly variable rainfall, distributed in two rainy seasons.
Although the focus of this proposition is the developing world tropics, problems with agricultural development in semi-arid regions are not confined to the developing world.
In addition to these natural forests, vast areas of woodlands occur in the semi-arid to sub-humid parts of the country.
For crop/livestock production systems in semi-arid regions, quality and quantity of forage produced for each unit of water used is important.
But there are also many examples of resource decline and low production, particularly in the humid tropical rainforest and in the semi-arid savanna regions.
The presence of tsetse fly and the semi-arid conditions of the region had historically precluded settlement by large populations.
This however is not a serious problem, since most of the production of corn takes place in the semi-arid portion of the territory.
In the semi-arid areas, where this type is quite frequent, the signal is the wetting of the soil.
