Benefits of integrated soil fertility and water management in semi-arid West Africa: an example study in Burkina Faso

Abstract

The synergistic effect of soil and water conservation (SWC) measures (stone rows or grass strips) and nutrient inputs (organic or mineral nutrient sources) was studied at Saria station, Burkina Faso. The reduction in runoff was 59% in plots with barriers alone, but reached 67% in plots with barriers + mineral N and 84% in plots with barriers + organic N, as compared with the control plots. Plots with no SWC measure lost huge amounts of soil (3 t ha -1 ) and nutrients. Annual losses from eroded sediments and runoff reached 84 kg OC ha -1 , 16.5 kg N ha -1 , 2 kg P ha -1 , and 1.5 kg K ha -1 in the control plots. The application of compost led to the reduction of total soil loss by 52% in plots without barriers and 79% in plots with stone rows as compared to the losses in control plots. SWC measures without N input did not significantly increase sorghum yield. Application of compost or manure in combination with SWC measures increased sorghum grain yield by about 142% compared to a 65% increase due to mineral fertilizers. Yields increase did not cover annual costs of single SWC measures while application of single compost or urea was cost effective. The combination of SWC measures with application of compost resulted in financial gains of 145,000 to 180,000 FCFA ha -1 year -1 under adequate rainfall condition. Without nutrient inputs, SWC measures hardly affected sorghum yields, and without SWC, fertilizer inputs also had little effect. However, combining SWC and nutrient management caused an increase in sorghum yield.

Exploring the scaling-up of sustainable land management in the Central highlands of Ethiopia

“…Integration of different SLM practices is crucial to enhance soil moisture, improve availability of soil nutrients (Nyssen et al, 2007;Pender & Gebremedhin, 2008) and increase crop production (Vancampenhout et al, 2006). Similar results were reported in Burkina Faso by Zougmoré et al (2010), where soil and water conservation measures combined with compost increased soil moisture and reduced loss of fertile soil.…”

Impact of tillage and fertility management options on selected soil physical properties and sorghum yield

“…In plots with compost application, the mineralization of compost released not only the macro nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus but also considerable amounts of micronutrients for plant use (Zougmoré et al, 2008). Significant sorghum response to chemical fertilizer application in this study indicated the importance of fertilizer in the cropping system.…”

“…Higher yields obtained in compost + fertilizer treatments could be attributed to the nutrients being readily made available from the fertilizers and also the improvement of mineralization of the compost with the application of mineral fertilizer as observed by Zougmoré et al (2008). In compost treatments, nutrients availability depends on nutrient concentration and release in synchrony with crop needs (Bationo et al, 2012).…”

Manure and adoption of modern seeds in cereal‐based systems in West African drylands: linkages and (non)complementarities

“…In drylands, farmers adopt modern seeds to deal with drought and water stress. But it has also been shown that the use of manure helps to prevent rapid infiltration and enables greater water retention for crop use, particularly in dryland areas (Zougmoré et al, 2010). Both technologies can therefore be used jointly or separately for the same purpose.…”