Wind erosion in the Southern Sahelian Zone and induced constraints to pearl millet production

Abstract

S c o p e of t h e j o u r n a l Agricukural and Forest Meteorology is an international journal for the publication of articles and reviews in the interdisciplinary fields of meteorology and plant, animal and soil sciences as applied to heat, mass and momentum transfer in agriculture, forestry or natural ecosystems. Articles must appeal to an international audience. Emphasis is on basic and applied scientific research to problems in agriculture, forestry and natural ecosystems. Theoretical models should always be tested against experimental data. Typical topics include radiation transfer in plant canopies, evapotranspiration, energy transfer, air turbulence i n and above plant canopies, forest-fire/weather interactions, pollutant fluxes to vegetation in the field and enclosures, trace gas fluxes in man-made and natural ecosystems, climatology of plant distributions, glasshouse energy balances and climatology, animal biometeorology. Special issues devoted to single topics, conference proceedings and comprehensive reviews are also published. P u b l i c a t i o n schedule a n d s u b s c r i p t i o n i n f o r m a t i o n Agricultural and Forest Meteorology will have flve volumes in 1993. The subscript~on for 1993 1000 A€ Amsterdam). Annual subscription price in the USA US $1 003 (subject t o change). including air speed delivery. Application t o mail st second class postage rate is pendin at Jamaica,

Influence of shrubs on soil characteristics and their function in Sahelian agro-ecosystems in semi-arid Niger

“…Trees and shrubs function as natural barriers reducing wind velocity (Michels, 1994;Kainkwa & Stigter, 1994), especially in the field where they have very dense foliage as a result of repeated cutting. The reduced wind velocity leads to a deposition of wind-blown soil material in the vicinity of the shrubs, hence microtopographic mounds of more than 11 cm under shrubs were found in this study.…”

Environmental impacts and constraints associated with the production of major food crops in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia

“…As the rainfall season is frequently short and intense in sorghum and millet growing regions and soil cover sparse, problems such as waterlogging, water runoff and soil erosion represent major yield constraints (Witcombe and Beckerman 1987;Murty et al 2007). Low temperatures, low soil P, Fe toxicity, acid soils, and wind damage (blown sand) also hinder crop yields, while downy mildew, insect pests, and weeds such as Striga cause severe losses (Michels et al 1993;Jeger et al 1998;Clay 2004;Singh et al 2009;Tari et al 2013). …”

Resource conservation strategies in agro-ecosystems of semi-arid West Africa

“…Leaving crop residues on the fields minimizes the export of nutrients via harvested crops or even imports nutrients when using mulch material produced elsewhere. Mulching increases not only nutrient and organic matter content of soils, but also reduces soil erosion, enhances water conservation and increases water infiltration (Michels, 1994;Sterk & Spaan, 1997;Léonard & Rajot, 1998). Depending on the amount of crop residues applied (500-2000 kg ha À1 ), yields were 31-106% higher compared with unmulched areas (Bationo & Mokwunye, 1991;Buerkert, 1995;Muehlig-Versen et al, 1998).…”

“…Wind speed has shown to be reduced by windbreaks (Michels, 1994), bands of fallow vegetation (Banzhaf, 1988), grass strips (Renard & Vandenbeldt, 1990) or disperse growing trees (Kainkwa & Stigter, 1994). However, windbreaks are difficult to establish because direct economic benefits for farmers are not ensured (Michels et al, 1998).…”