Resilience of smallholder farmers in their ability to bounce-back and overcome shocks, such as drought, is critical to ensure a pathway out of hunger and poverty. Efficient water conservation methods that increase rainwater capture and reduce soil erosion such as stone lines and grass bands are two technologies that have been proposed to increase the resilience in Sudano–Sahelian farming systems. In Burkina Faso, we show that stone lines, grass bands, and crop rotation are effective resilience strategies individually and in combination. During years when rainfall is well-distributed over time, differences are minimal between fields with water conservation methods and fields without. However, when there are periods of prolonged drought, water conservation methods are effective for increasing soil water, yield, revenue, and resilience. During drought conditions, sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) grain yield and revenue with stone lines and grass bands were over 50% greater than that of the control, by an average of 450 kg ha−1, which amounted to an increase of 58,500 West African CFA franc (CFA) ha−1 (i.e., 98 USD ha−1). The results also suggest that the combination of water conservation method and crop rotation additionally improves cropping system productivity and revenue. Growing cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) in rotation with sorghum production provided more options for farmers to increase their income and access to nutrition. This study also sheds light on the limited productivity gains due to improved crop varieties. The local sorghum landrace, Nongomsoba, and the local cowpea variety in rotation resulted in the highest yields as compared to the improved varieties of Sariaso 14 sorghum and KVX 396-4-4 cowpea. Under similar low input/degraded conditions, improved crop varieties likely are not a suitable resilience strategy alone. We conclude that during erratic rainy seasons with frequent periods of drought (i.e., water stress) in rain-fed conditions in Burkina Faso, stone lines or grass bands in combination with sorghum and cowpea rotation are effective practices for increasing resilience of smallholder farmers to maintain crop productivity and revenue. With future and present increases in climate variability due to climate change, stone lines, grass bands, and crop rotation will have growing importance as resilience strategies to buffer crop productivity and revenue during periods of drought.
In the Sudan Savanna of West Africa, Plinthosols with a petroplinthic or pisoplinthic horizon at ≤ 50 cm from the surface comprise the major soils. Because these horizons limit the rooting volume and water and nutrient storage capacities of the soils, they should be a major cause of decreased crop yield in the Sudan Savanna. However, the local distribution of Plinthosols is not precisely known, and the relationships between soil classes, effective soil depth, and crop yield, which are considered to be closely related to each other on the Plinthosol soils, are not fully understood. To clarify these relationships, we first reassessed the soil toposequence on a slope at the Institute of Environment and Agricultural Research Saria station in Burkina Faso using the current World Reference Base soil classification system. We then determined the relationships between soil classes and sorghum yield and between the effective soil depth and yield. We also assessed whether ground penetrating radar could predict the position of a petroplinthic horizon. We found (1) that Pisoplinthic Petric Plinthosols were found at the upper slope, Petric Plinthosols were found at the middle slope, and Ferric Lixisols were found at the lower to toe slope; (2) that sorghum yield was significantly larger at the Ferric Lixisols, then at the Petric Plinthosols, and lower at the Pisoplinthic Petric Plinthosols; (3) that sorghum yield was proportional to the effective soil depth at which upper boundary of petroplinthic horizon was found (n = 26, R 2 = 0.78*** exclusion of waterlogged soil); and (4) that ground penetrating radar could predict the effective soil depth and the position of petroplinthic horizons (n = 4, R 2 = 0.99**), suggesting that we could roughly but easily predict sorghum yield and local distribution of Plinthosols having a petroplinthic horizon using GPR. These results may enable us to take more account of the inherent soil conditions when studying soil and water conservation, fertilization methods, and crop breeding, all of which are crucial if sustainable agricultural methods are to be achieved in the Sudan Savanna.
Le mil est la deuxième importante céréale cultivée au Burkina Faso après le sorgho. Ces dernières années, les rendements sont en baisse du fait de la pauvreté des sols et des aléas climatiques. Cette étude réalisée en 2018 et 2019 à la Station de Recherches de Saria avait pour objectif d’identifier des technologies de gestion de l’eau et de la fertilisation qui optimisent les rendements du mil. Le dispositif expérimental était un bloc complétement randomisé avec une disposition des traitements en split-plot et trois répétitions où les parcelles principales correspondaient à quatre niveaux de travail du sol et les parcelles secondaires à huit niveaux de fertilisation minérale avec ou sans compost. Les résultats ont montré que l’utilisation du compost plus les engrais minéraux ont permis des gains de 338 à 502 kg ha-1 pour le grain et de 657 à 947 kg ha-1 pour la paille. Le labour a engendré des gains de 266 à 635 kg ha-1 pour le grain et de 381 à 601 kg ha-1 pour la paille. Ces résultats permettent de recommander le labour avec une fertilisation organique et minérale pour optimiser les rendements du mil dans la zone soudano-sahélienne du Burkina Faso.Mots clés : Labour, zaï manuel, billonnage cloisonné, compost, Station de Recherches de Saria Effects of tillage and organo-mineral fertilization on yields of pearl millet in the Soudano-sahelian zone of Burkina FasoABSTRACTPearl millet is the second important cereal crop cultivated in Burkina Faso after sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]. In recent years, farmers failed to achieve good yields because of low productivity resulting from soil poverty and climatic risks. This study was carried out at Saria Research Station in 2018 and 2019 and aimed at finding the best combination of water management techniques and fertilizers to optimize pearl millet yields. The experiment was conducted in randomized complete block design with split plot arrangements of treatments and three replications. The main plot was tillage method with four levels and the sub-plot was fertilization with eight levels consisting of mineral fertilizers with or without compost. Results showed that the addition of compost to mineral fertilizers resulted in yield increases from 338 to 502 kg ha-1 for grain and 657 to 947 kg ha-1 for stover. The use of plough increased grain yield from 266 to 635 kg ha-1 and stover from 381 to 601 kg ha-1. These results indicate that the use of compost plus mineral fertilizers and plough that optimize pearl millet yields can be recommended for pearl millet production in the Sudano-sahelian zone of Burkina Faso.© 2021 International Formulae Group. All rights reserved.Keywords: Plough, manual zaï, tied-ridging, compost, Saria Research Station.
Conservation agriculture (CA) as recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations consists of three components: minimum soil disturbance, soil cover, and crop rotation/association. CA was expected to become an effective countermeasure against water erosion in the Sudan Savanna, but it has not been adopted by local smallholder farmers. As markets for grain legumes (including cowpea) have not been developed in the Sudan Savanna, crop rotation/association should be considered impractical for these farmers. Therefore, we examined whether legume intercropping as a crop rotation/association component is necessary for preventing soil erosion in the Sudan Savanna. Three-year field experiments were conducted in runoff plots at Institute of Environment and Agricultural Research Saria station. The four treatments were conventional practice (full tillage, no sorghum residue mulching, and no intercropping), two-component CA (minimum tillage (MT) and sorghum residue mulching without intercropping), and three-component CA with velvet bean (VB) or pigeon pea (PP) intercropping. It was revealed that: (1) MT and sorghum residue mulching (without intercropping) effectively reduced the annual soil loss by 54% mainly due to the improvement of soil permeability by the boring of termites and wolf spiders found under the sorghum stover mulch; (2) intercropping in combination with MT and crop residue mulching had no effect on soil erosion control mainly because: (a) PP did not survive the long dry season; (b) VB did not serve effectively as a cover crop since soil loss was concentrated at the beginning of the rainy season when VB was still too small; (c) unexpectedly, in combination with MT and crop residue mulching, intercropping with VB did not increase mulch biomass, especially sorghum biomass which prompts the boring of termites and wolf spiders. These results demonstrate that the third component of CA, namely legume intercropping, is not always necessary; rather, the two remaining componentsminimum soil disturbance and soil coverare sufficient for soil conservation in the Sudan Savanna. This finding lightens the burden of adopting CA and thus facilitates its future promotion to the smallholder farmers in the Sudan Savanna.
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