IntroductionIrrigation is considered to be one of the best solutions to fight drought spells in agriculture but also to lift farmers out of poverty through improved water provision, and thus crop yields. However, irrigated agriculture, as organized in Africa, has often generated new inequalities between farmers because of the larger areas cultivated by a minority of farmers, which allows them to earn higher incomes compared to small farmers. This study aims to provide evidence from the Senegal river delta, one of the largest irrigated rice areas in Senegal, on how inequalities have indeed increased over time.MethodsIt is based on a survey conducted among 326 households (HHs) on total land area cultivated, investment in irrigation and agricultural income. Inequalities were calculated through Lorenz curve and Gini index.ResultsResults show the large disparities in areas cultivated by each HH. A minority cultivates more than 100 ha while the majority cultivates less than 2 ha. As a result, only some 7% of producers generate profits from irrigated agriculture, while most HHs experience net income deficits. In addition, due to difficulties in applying double-cropping of rice, especially among small farmers, inequalities remain what they are, while the hydro-agricultural developments carried out in this area were supposed to allow even three crops per year on the same plot.ConclusionAs there is not enough idle land left, it is difficult to increase the areas planted by HHs. In the absence of new developments, the practice of double-cropping on existing farms, especially among small farmers, would help reduce inequalities and facilitate rice self-sufficiency, which the country has been seeking for decades.

Irrigation plays a critical role in agricultural intensification and productivity enhancement, especially in rainfall-scarce environments. Solar pumps have emerged as promising solutions for controlling energy consumption. This study examines the factors influencing the adoption of solar-powered irrigation pumps among horticultural farmers in the Kadiogo Province, located in the Centre Region in Burkina Faso, a landlocked Sahelian country within West Africa. Within the framework of a solar pump subsidy program, a random sample of 200 farmers, including 42

Since 2012, development actors have promoted supplemental irrigation from farm ponds to cope with rainfall variability in Burkina Faso, but few farmers have adopted the innovation. Although harvesting runoff water in ponds is an old practice in Sahelian Burkina Faso, farmers were not accustomed to irrigating crops with stored rainwater. In the context of low adoption rates of innovation, it is useful to understand the behavior and profile of those who do adopt innovations. This article analyzes farmers' adoption processes by focusing on their socio-economic characteristics and on stakeholders' social representations of the innovation. We conducted field surveys of 18 institutional actors and 33 adopters. Our results showed that farmers have favorable attitudes towards adoption and that institutional actors help strengthen these intentions by influencing farmers' social norms and capacities to act , but that the farmers' perceptions of difficulties, risk, and social norms prevent them from adopting. As supplemental irrigation from farm ponds is a labor-intensive innovation, farmers who cannot call on community labor or hire seasonal workers are limited in their adoption of the innovation. In addition, the fear of being subjected to mockery by members of the community or the fear of losing social prestige is a social norm that may limit the adoption of the innovation. We characterized the profile of adopters, who mainly have a low income but a high social status that allows them to receive support from policy -makers. Farmers have a preference for growing cash crops rather than subsistence crops the latter being the goal of most institutional actors. Our study showed that farmers' preferences and perceptions of social norms, as well as the characteristics of innovations, are important as socio-economic and technical factors in farmers' adoption processes.

West African Sahel is one of the most exposed areas to the adverse effects of climate variability.All the agricultural production systems are affected, exposing local populations to food insecurity and poverty.This study aimed to assess the impacts of intra-seasonal rainfall variability and cropping practices on cereal yields in the North Central region of Burkina Faso.Daily rainfall data covering the 1984-2015 period were collected from eleven stations across the region.The agro-climatic parameters such as the onset and the end of the rainy season, its length, seasonal rainfall amount, rainy days and long dry spells in the rainy months were determined.Annual cereal yields statistics (sorghum, millet and maize) were used.Data on cropping practices were taken into account in this study.The statistical methods for trends and breaks were applied to data series.Simple correlation tests were used to assess the impacts of agro-climatic parameters on cereal yields.The results showed that the North Central region of Burkina Faso experienced extreme rainfall events such as "false starts" of rainy seasons, long dry spells and early rainfall cessation.The onset of the rainy season and the long dry spells in July (duration ≥ 8 days) and August (≥ 6 days) months had negative impacts on cereal yields in the region.The results also highlighted an increase in rainfall since the 1990s and 2000s.Increased rainfall and the positive effects of changes in cropping practices affected cereal yields, which increased significantly (44 to 72%) since that period.Dissemination of climate information, adoption of improved cropping technics and supplemental irrigation are innovating practices that could increase cereal yields in North Central Burkina Faso.

Description of the subject. The debate on the relationship between farm size and production results is long-standing, but not yet settled. In Senegal, this debate is fueled by the fact that recent governments have tended to favor large-scale irrigated farms, whereas the first perimeters allocated were very small plots. Objectives. This article helps to identify, in an area where there are both large and small farms, which type of farm produces the greatest level of production and has the best returns. Method. A survey was conducted among 326 households of rice farmers in the communes of Diama and Ross Bethio, located in the Senegal River delta. Results. Smaller farms have higher yields, but the overall income of small farms is too low. Larger rice farms achieve lower yields, but provide sufficient income for their farmers to live on and run the farm. According to our surveys, production costs are the main factor explaining yields among the rice farmers surveyed. Small-scale farmers incur relatively high production costs to maximize their profit, whereas large-scale farmers limit production costs to obtain yields that are still acceptable for a decent farm income. Conclusions. To better fight poverty and achieve rice self-sufficiency, agricultural policies should enable small-scale farmers to capture new investments and encourage large-scale producers to invest more in rice farming to increase their yields and profits.

The Senegalese government's pursuit of rice self-sufficiency since Independence has motivated massive investments in the Senegal River Delta in northern Senegal. This paper assesses the contribution of the Projet de promotion du partenariat rizicole dans le Delta (3PRD, a project promoting rice partnership) to organizational and technical dynamics. The importance of this project lies in the public-private partnership, a recent paradigm in the world of irrigated agricultural development. Our approach is based on a bibliographic synthesis, field visits, interviews with project managers and surveys of farmers. The results suggest two major advances made by the 3PRD: the empowerment of private producers in a large-scale collective scheme involving the participation of the SAED a development company and the introduction of new irrigation equipment: the electric pump. They also show that efforts still need to be made in terms of crop intensity and agricultural yields to enable producers to make the investments they have made in their irrigation schemes more profitable.

Description du sujet. Le débat sur la relation entre la taille des exploitations agricoles et les résultats de production est ancien, mais il n’est pas encore tranché. Au Sénégal, ce débat est alimenté par le fait que les gouvernements récents tendent à favoriser des exploitations irriguées de grande taille, alors que les premiers périmètres distribués étaient de très petites parcelles. Objectifs. Cet article contribue à identifier, dans une zone où il y a des grandes et des petites exploitations, le type d’exploitation qui produit le plus et qui a les meilleurs rendements. Méthode. Une enquête a été réalisée auprès de 326 ménages de riziculteurs dans les communes de Diama et de Ross Béthio, sises dans le delta du fleuve Sénégal. Résultats. Les petites exploitations obtiennent de meilleurs rendements mais leurs revenus globaux sont trop faibles. Les plus grandes exploitations rizicoles réalisent des rendements moins importants mais permettent à leurs exploitants d’obtenir des revenus suffisants pour vivre et faire fonctionner l’exploitation. Selon nos enquêtes, les couts de production sont les principaux facteurs explicatifs des rendements parmi les riziculteurs enquêtés. Les petits producteurs ont des couts de production relativement élevés pour maximiser leur profit là où les grands exploitants limitent les couts de production pour obtenir des rendements qui restent acceptables pour un revenu d’exploitation décent. Conclusions. Pour mieux lutter contre la pauvreté et atteindre l’autosuffisance en riz, les politiques agricoles devraient permettre aux petits cultivateurs de capter de nouveaux investissements et encourager les grands producteurs à investir plus dans la riziculture afin d’augmenter leurs rendements et leurs profits.

L’autosuffisance en riz poursuivie par l’État du Sénégal depuis l’Indépendance a motivé des investissements colossaux dans le Delta du fleuve Sénégal, au nord du pays. Cet article évalue la contribution du Projet de promotion du partenariat rizicole dans le Delta (3PRD) aux dynamiques organisationnelles et techniques. L’importance de ce projet repose sur le partenariat public-privé, un paradigme récent dans le monde du développement de l’agriculture irriguée. Notre démarche est basée sur un travail de synthèse bibliographique, des visites de terrain, des entretiens avec les responsables du projet et des enquêtes auprès des agriculteurs. Les résultats suggèrent deux progrès majeurs réalisés par le 3PRD : l’autonomisation des producteurs privés dans un grand aménagement collectif impliquant la participation de la société de développement SAED et l’introduction d’un nouveau matériel pour l’irrigation, l’électropompe. Ils montrent aussi que des efforts restent à réaliser en matière d’intensité culturale et de rendement agricole pour permettre aux producteurs de mieux rentabiliser les investissements qu’ils ont réalisés dans leurs périmètres.

The dry spells are severe obstacles to rainfed agriculture in Sahelian countries. The farmers believe supplemental irrigation is an excellent way to adapt rainfed agriculture to dry spells. In this study, we analyzed the contribution of supplemental irrigation to food security and compared the profitability of different types of ponds constructed by farmers in northern Burkina Faso. Human cereal requirement was used as indicators to analyze the contribution of supplemental irrigation to food security. The criteria for analyzing the profitability of the selected ponds were gross margin (GM), net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) and payback period (PBP). The results show that the additional yield of corn obtained with supplemental irrigation makes it possible to meet the monthly cereal needs of at least 17 people and generates an additional GM of FCFA 178,483 (US$ 309.26) compared to no irrigation. The estimate of the NPV, from IRR and PBP showed that the profitability of supplemental irrigation in 15 agricultural seasons varies between type of ponds constructed. Given the up-front cost and the farmers’ lack of resources, the ponds require a subsidy or a credit policy to facilitate the adoption of supplemental irrigation in Sahelian countries.

This article analyzes different approaches to establishing rural youth in irrigation areas in the Senegal River delta in the context of new hydro-agricultural developments and massive land acquisitions by agrobusiness. Government-led irrigation projects introduced in the 1960s distributed free 0.2-hectare plots of land to young workers from the surrounding region. However, in the 1980s, Senegal took a liberal turn that led to a shift from public-sector to private-sector initiatives. As a result, young workers, who often lack the means necessary to acquire land, have found it much more challenging to pursue farming in irrigation areas. Since 2006, few young farmers have acquired any of the 5,000 hectares of new irrigated farmland developed through programs based on the public-private partnership model. At the same time, agro-industry growth has provided young people with many temporary and precarious employment opportunities. Based on surveys of farmers and agricultural workers in the Senegal River delta, we show how young people find it increasingly difficult to acquire land or secure adequate employment in the agricultural sector. In addition, we demonstrate that access to irrigated land, as opposed to salaried agricultural work, represents the most effective strategy for poverty reduction.

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. Séquestration du carbone et usage durable des savanes ouest-africaines : synergie ou antagonisme ? Raphaël J. Manlay, Grégoire T Freschet, Luc Abbadie, Bruno Barbier, Jean-Luc Chotte, Christian Feller, Maya Leroy, Georges Serpantié

Using a stepwise approach that combines several econometric methods, we assessed whether or not the adoption of modern seeds and the use of manure in cereal-based systems are linked and, if so, what are the driving forces of the linkages between these two agricultural technologies under dry-climate conditions in West Africa. We found complementary and substitutability linkages arising from jointness and endogeneity between the two technologies. Specifically, our findings reveal positive joint determination along with negative endogeneity between the two technologies indicating that, controlling for observable variables, both technologies are positively linked, but unobserved factors that affect one adoption decision are negatively correlated with the other. After controlling for jointness and endogeneity, we found significant complementarity linkages showing a significant positive effect of manure use on the adoption of modern seeds, which is also significantly and positively affected by the number of cash crops grown and remittances. The two technologies are reversely affected by schooling and the incidence of soil fertility problems within the farm, whereas the amount of healthy land has a positive effect on both. The study suggests that organic fertilizer can serve as an enabling factor for greater adoption of modern seeds, especially in less favourable climate areas, and strongly supports the argument behind the need to breed seeds suitable for the use of organic fertilizers. These findings provide avenues for re-orientation of policies that promote the use of modern seeds in dryland areas in sub-Saharan Africa, with a possibility of breeding and promoting them in packages with organic fertilizers to upscale their adoption.

Food insecurity is a recurrent problem in northern Ghana. Food grown during the rainy season is often insufficient to meet household food needs, with some households experiencing severe food insecurity for up to five months in a year. Flood recession agriculture (FRA) – an agricultural practice that relies on residual soil moisture and nutrients left by receding flood water – is ordinarily practiced by farmers along the floodplains of the White Volta River in northern Ghana under low-input low-output conditions. Opportunities abound to promote highly productive FRA as a means of extending the growing season beyond the short rainy season (from May to September) into the dry season and thereby increase household income and food security of smallholder farmers. This study uses an optimization modelling approach to explore this potential by analyzing the crop mix and agricultural water management options that will maximize household income and enhance food security. Results indicate that growing cowpea, groundnut and melon under residual-moisture based FRA and high value crops (onion, pepper, and tomato) under supplementary irrigation FRA maximize household income and food security. The cash income from the sale of FRA crops was sufficient to purchase food items that ensure consumption smoothing during the food-insecure months. The study concludes that the full potential of FRA will be realized through a careful selection of crop mixtures and by enhancing access of farmers to improved seeds, integrated pest management and credit and mainstreaming FRA through targeted policy interventions and institutional support.

Climate change represents a major potential threat to the viability of rural households in sub-Saharan Africa who live mainly from the exploitation of natural resources. The purpose of this study is to analyze farmers’ perceptions of climate change, its environmental impacts, coping strategies and the relationships between them. Surveys were conducted through group discussions and an individual questionnaire administered to 300 households in north-central Burkina Faso. A Logit binary model identified factors that influence local perceptions of climate change and the choice of adaptation strategies. The study shows that farmers perceive a decrease in rainfall (76.7 %), a rise in temperatures (97 %) and strong winds (98.7 %). The determinant factors of this perception are education level of the household head, household size, belonging to a peasant organization and number of cattle. Land degradation mainly results in bare soils, reduced woody vegetation and low agricultural yields. The main adaptation strategies are the adoption of water and soil conservation techniques (WSCT), possession of manure pits, irrigation and the use of adapted varieties. The determining factors of this adaptation are the availability of picks and shovels, belonging to a peasant organization, training in agricultural technologies and access to credit. The adoption of an adaptation strategy by a farmer depends of his perception of climate change and its causes, its negative impacts on the environment and the means available to provide solutions.

Description of the subject. In Sahelian countries, irregular spatial and temporal rainfall distribution remains a threat for rainfed agriculture despite the use of a wide range of techniques for soil conservation. Objectives. To analyze several irrigation strategies for rainfed crops and to assess the likely economic incentives to support the adoption of supplemental irrigation from farm ponds in response to dry spells. Method. The supplemental irrigation strategies and economic incentives were analyzed using an applied bio-economic model in a typical farm. Results. The simulations showed that supplemental irrigation from small individual ponds would increase farmers' income compared to the situation without irrigation. Maize, sorghum and millet production under supplemental irrigation in a dry year would increase expected income by 26.49% (133,030 CFA francs equivalent to 202.80 euros) compared to the situation without irrigation. Simulations with incentives to promote supplemental irrigation focused on four subsidy modalities and the introduction of a credit system for agricultural households. Conclusions. Of the incentives studied, the food-for-work subsidy to mobilize labor for basin building seems particularly suitable for scaling-up supplemental irrigation.

Description du sujet. Dans les pays sahéliens, la répartition spatio-temporelle hautement variable des précipitations demeure une menace pour l’agriculture pluviale, malgré le grand nombre de techniques diffusées pour la conservation des eaux et des sols. Objectifs. Analyser plusieurs stratégies d’irrigation des cultures pluviales et évaluer l’impact probable des mesures économiques incitatives en vue de faciliter l’adoption de l’irrigation de complément à partir des petits bassins individuels de collecte des eaux de ruissellement face aux poches de sècheresse. Méthode. Les stratégies possibles d’irrigation de complément et les simulations des mesures économiques incitatives ont été analysées à partir d’un modèle bio-économique appliqué à une exploitation agricole type. Résultats. Les simulations montrent que l’irrigation de complément permet d’accroitre le revenu espéré des agriculteurs, comparativement à la situation sans irrigation. La culture du maïs, du sorgho et du mil sous l’irrigation de complément en année sèche augmente le revenu espéré de 26,49 % (133 030 francs CFA, équivalent à 202,80 euros) comparativement à la situation sans irrigation. Les simulations visant à promouvoir l’irrigation de complément à partir des petits bassins individuels sont axées sur quatre modalités de subventions et un système d’octroi de crédit aux ménages agricoles. Conclusions. Parmi les mesures incitatives, la subvention sous forme de travail contre nourriture pour mobiliser la main-d’œuvre en vue de construire les bassins semble particulièrement adaptée pour la mise à l’échelle de la pratique de l’irrigation de complément à partir des petits bassins individuels.