IRRIGATION TO MITIGATE RAINFALL VARIABILITY AND FOOD INSECURITY IN THE SAHEL: NEW IRRIGATION OPTIONS...

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FOSSI and al. Irrigation to mitigate rainfall variability and food insecurity in the Sahel: new irrigation options for Burkina Faso

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IRRIGATION TO MITIGATE RAINFALL VARIABILITY AND

FOOD INSECURITY IN THE SAHEL: NEW IRRIGATION

OPTIONS FOR BURKINA FASO

FOSSI S.1, TRAORE Y.M.

1, BARBIER B.

1,2 , DIARRA A.

1 TRAORE SO.

3 , ZANGRE A.

3

1International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering (2iE-Burkina Faso).

2Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (UMR-

Geau, CIRAD-Burkina Faso).

3Direction Générale des Aménagements et du Développement de l’Irrigation, (DGADI-Burkina Faso)

Corresponding author: Severe FOSSI, Tel: 00226 71 91 98 23, Email: [email protected] , Fax : 00226 50 49 28 01

Oral Communication.

ABSTRACT

Accepting the challenges of irrigation is a prerequisite for improving food security in the Sahel.

Sahelian countries are subject to erratic rainfalls for centuries and are likely to face increasing rainfall

variability in the future. However irrigation development has been disappointing over the last few

decades. Most irrigated schemes display mitigated performances while individual small farmers are

launching a small green revolution around reservoirs and along rivers. The government of Burkina

Faso, a typical Sahelian country, plans to launch new ideas to help these individual small farmers to

improve their resilience through supplemental irrigation during the dry spells of the rainy season from

small farm basins. The government also proposes mobile irrigation teams to support the farms

adjacent to bodies of water. This article is a synthesis of the issues of food security, initiated policies

and irrigation technologies to improve farmers’ adaptation capacities in Burkina Faso. Then a

research-development project studies the practice of supplemental irrigation, its agronomic, climatic

and socio-economic issues related to the mobilization of runoff.

Keywords: rainfall deficit, food insecurity, supplemental irrigation, water management, Burkina Faso,

Sahel

INTRODUCTION

In the twenty first century Sahelian countries still face severe food shortage and count a significant

fraction of malnourished adults and children. This situation persists despite substantial efforts by

government and donor agencies to search and promote so called improved agricultural practices to

increase, secure and diversify crop production. The fist strategy government and donors have been

counting on is irrigation. But irrigation has been disappointing. It is expensive, consumes scarce water,

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leads to wetland degradation and is not considered cost effective. The problems with irrigations are

not simple but new options might improve drastically farmers’ performances.

In this paper we focus on the case of Burkina Faso, a typical Sahelian country at the heart of West

Africa. We first synthesize the major tenants of its agricultural problems and its performances. We then

regard at its diverse irrigation systems and describe a new system that might help solve significantly

the current food security problem.

FOOD SECURITY IN BURKINA FASO

Agriculture remains the major contributor to GDP and export and the major employer of Sahelian

countries. However agriculture has contributed little to reduce poverty. The mainly rainfed agriculture

is highly dependent on climatic conditions (Figure-1). Agricultural production in Sahelian countries of

West Africa is highly variable from one year to another and often insufficient to cover urbain and rural

food needs. Performances are limited by climate variability but also by poor soil quality, soil continuous

overexploitation, difficult access to inputs and equipment, market access, valorization of infrastructure,

disorganized farmers and competition of imports (NEPAD-OECD, 2011). Producers are usually small

semi subsistence farmers cultivating three to six hectares on average and facing severe constraints

that limit their performance (PNSA, 2008).

Grain is the basis of the diet of the population, urban and rural, with more than two third of the energy

inputs, the remainder consisting of fruits and vegetables, roots and tubers, oilseeds and legumes,

animal products such as meat, eggs and milk, fishery products, hunting products and non-timber forest

products. Grain production occupies almost 90 % of the crop area (PNSA). The major crops are millet,

sorghum, maize and rice, but yields remain low and highly dependent on rainfall conditions (UEMOA,

2002). Correlation between rainfalls level and poverty is high (UEMOA, 2002). Recent studies have

shown that yields of crops such as millet and sorghum will fall by more than 10% in the case of a

temperature increase of 2 ° C (Sarr et al., 2007 AGRHYMET, 2009; cited by Sarr and al., 2009). Some

simulations suggest a relatively large decrease (20 to 50%) in grain yields throughout the Sahel from

Senegal to Niger by 2050 (FAO, 2008).

The grain harvest of 2011 was particularly low because of the poor spatial and temporal distribution of

rainfalls. Around 2,5 million persons were considered food insecure and the national grain deficit was

estimated at 154 thousand tons (Traoré, 2012). Half of rural families were unable to produce

or acquire sufficient food to meet their needs (FAO, 2011). If in the south some municipalities were in

surplus, in the north of Burkina Faso, production was very low. In some areas where the cumulative

rainfall was satisfactory, the rainfall distribution led to low yields. Several interviewed farmers

complained that two or three additional rains could have been sufficient to save the crops.

Burkina Faso has experienced many food crises throughout its recent history (Table-1). Available

energy from food is 2150 kcal per day per capita, while the standard should be 2400 kcal. Protein

availability is considered acceptable against the standard but these numbers mask large disparities

(UEMOA, 2002). The proportion of underweighted children under 5 years has moved from 34 % in

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1998 to 38 % in 2003, then to a peak of 46 % in 2005 (due to poor rainfall and low production), before

beginning a downward trend to 31 % in 2007. Some projections indicate that by 2015 this rate could

increase to 43 % according to current trends against a target of 28 % (UNDP, 2010).Food insecurity is

more pronounced in rural areas than in urban areas. In fact, 39 % of households in rural areas are

structurally food insecure while only 16 % of those living in urban areas are in the same situation

(Kabore and Ilboudo, 2011).

To cope with the rainfalls’ decline of the seventies and eighties, Sahelian farmers have revived

traditional techniques to collect runoff that concentrate water at the foot of the plant or the use of

shorter cycle varieties. In thirty years the government and donors have built more than a thousand

small dams and a few large ones. It has also constructed a few hundred irrigation schemes. However

the situation remains very tight as the population remains vulnerable to recent shocks and adaptation

strategies seems insufficient to cope with a rapidly increasing population, new food habits from the

urbans and an increasing variable climate.

The Special Program for Food Security (PSSA) was implemented in Burkina Faso in 1995 (PNSA,

2008). The strategic framework to fight poverty (CSLP, 2003) of Burkina Faso aimed to improve farm

incomes by at least 3% per year in order to improve their living standards and reduce poverty

incidence in rural areas. Results have been disappointing.

Distribution of food in food-insecure areas is the responsibility of the National Council of Emergency

(CONASUR). Grains are sold at subsidized prices to households deemed vulnerable. But some

vulnerable households do not often have the financial resources to purchase grains, even subsidized

(Maïga, 2011). Nevertheless, available food according to standards of consumption of 190 kg of

grains / person / year was exceeded 13 times out of 17 crop campaigns between 1987/88 and

2006/2007 (Figure-2). The volume of commercial imports marks up a clear increase (Figure-3). These

are essentially rice imports which are sharply up in response to the changing dietary habits of urban

dwellers (CSAO-CILSS, 2008).

Bako (2011) estimates that the current growth of agricultural production in Burkina Faso will not allow

the country to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. Only a minimum growth

rate of agricultural public funding of 9% over the period 2009-2015 could achieve the MDG in reducing

hunger.

IRRIGATION SYSTEMS IN BURKINA FASO

The first systematic program of dam construction was started in the country in 1956. A dozen

perimeters and dams were completed between the 1960s and 1970s. Schemes were of several

hundred hectares and were managed by government and parastatals (Gadelle, 2011). Today, the

country has more than 1,400 small and medium dams in addition to a handful of bigger ones such as

Bagré, Kompienga, Ziga and Sourou, while the Samandéni dam is under construction. The storage

capacity of these reservoirs exceeds 5 billion m3 and an irrigation potential of over 500 000 ha. From

around 40 000 hectares today the Ministry of Agriculture aims to 60,000 ha by 2015.

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From the early 1990s, Burkina Faso has launched a comprehensive package of reforms to strengthen

the foundations of its socio-economic development (NEPAD-OECD, 2011). According to the 1st axis of

the strategy for accelerated growth and sustainable development (SCADD), promotion of irrigated

agriculture and diffusion of water and soils conservation practices were preferred (SCADD, 2010).

Compared to its neighbor Burkina Faso lags behind in terms of irrigation development. Also strategies

differ markedly (Table-2) (ARID, 2004, Barbier et al 2011). Burkina Faso, which has a limited access

to large rivers, has built more than 1,400 small dams but irrigation is still marginal (Burkina Faso,

2001). Mali, by far the country that has invested most, moves from the traditional systems along the

Niger rive to partial or full control of the water. While the improvement of inland valleys is common in

Burkina Faso and southern Mali, Senegal has favored public schemes (Diemer and van der Val 1987),

Mauritania private schemes (Schmitz 1993) while Niger maintains a wide variety of small-scale

individual systems whether peri urban, in oasis, in the fossil valleys or along the Niger river (RAID,

2000). In most Sahelian countries, the irrigated area is less than 1% of the cultivated areas (Aquastat,

2010) and given the rapid expansion of rainfed areas, this ratio should not improve quickly.

In Burkina Faso one can find seven irrigated systems. The “large schemes under public initiative”

include the Bagre and the Sourou schemes. Recently the government has launched a new type of

program around one of the large dam: The “Bagre growth pole” project in the south of the country. The

Bagre dam has a capacity of about 1.7 billion cubic meters (SCADD, 2012) with a potential of irrigable

lands of 58 000 hectares and with the possibility to distribute tenure security on 500 000 hectares

declared of public utility. The government also wants to promote the “agrobusiness type” which is

small and medium size. Private investors or contractors can access the agricultural and pastoral lands

around Bagre by long-term leases.

There is one large “private agro industrial” sugar cane scheme in Banfora which faces stiff competition

with imported sugar. Among small scale schemes Burkina Faso government has created a few dozen

“village schemes of public initiative”. There are very few “community initiatives” but “individual small

scale irrigation” is increasing fast.

Data about surfaces and performance of different types of irrigation present in Sahelian countries are

uncertain because it is difficult to measure the extent of traditional practices of informal irrigation and

small water structures made in the inland valleys (Payen and Gillet 2007). Investment in full control

systems has remained modest (NBA 2007). Small-scale irrigation is rapidly expanding. Since the

freezing of public investment in the nineties, individuals have extended irrigated surfaces around

existing schemes and in peri-urban areas (Payen and Gillet 2007, HPFB, 2004). Recent investments

in small-scale irrigation by affluent urban accelerates but often causes land dispute with villagers.

Most performances assessment in the region focus on irrigated rice production (Berthome et al., 1986,

CILSS, 1991, IIMI, 1997, Sally, 1997, Rigourd et al 2002, Vidal et al., 2004, Ducrot et al 2002,

Inocencio et al, 2007). The construction of full control irrigation schemes is more expensive in Africa

than elsewhere but the cost is mainly due to some large failures where schemes were abandoned or

partially exploited (Prudencio et al, 2007). Investment costs per unit of land estimated by ARID experts

confirm those of Inocencio et al. (2007) show that economies of scale are not achieved (Table 1).

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They are very high in large areas of the region (Burkina Faso, 2001). Smaller schemes are less costly

to the extent that the small schemes as described by ARID features less sophisticated structures and

are often not protected against lateral floods (ARID, 2004). The development of inland valleys is

inexpensive on average, but includes a large diversity of practices. Operational costs are similar in

Asia and Africa. Even if the cost of energy and transport are higher than elsewhere in the Sahel, they

are partly offset by a lower cost of labor (Prudencio et al, 2007).

Yields of irrigation systems also vary widely in the Sahel. They are usually below the targets set by

feasibility studies and observed internal rates of return are modest (NBA 2007). The degree of water

control has a significant impact on rice yields. It is difficult to exceed 2.5 tons of paddy in inland valley

schemes but easily exceeds 5 tons in full control, where it is often possible to harvest two crops per

year. Over the last few decades irrigators have made significant progress in the full control irrigation

(Vidal et al 2004) as it happens in sub-Saharan Africa (Inocencio 2007) but it is still difficult to identify

the common factors of progress because improvements are often site-specific. It is likely that farmers

took some time to adapt to irrigation techniques and constraints and the increasing difficulties of

rainfed agriculture (soil fertility decline and rainfall variability) has push irrigator invest more time and

money in their irrigated plots. Irrigators net income, who do not pays for public infrastructure, are

considered significant in relation to income derived in the same areas. Also small-scale irrigation is

usually described as an effective strategy for poverty reduction (Dillon, 2007; Nkonya et al., 2008,

Vidal et al., 2006).

Increase the performance of irrigation in full control is possible since a growing number of irrigators

regularly exceed seven tons of rice per hectare (Vidal et al. 2004). Experts agree that there is no

standard technical solution but localized rather organizational synergistic advances (Legoupil et al.,

1999, Poussin and Boivin, 2002). Experts stress the lack of experience of irrigators and deficiencies in

the organization of groups of irrigators whatsoever for the distribution of water, maintenance of

infrastructure for the supply of inputs or marketing. Management responsibilities formerly held by the

perimeters of the state services were transferred to producer groups, sometimes organized into formal

cooperatives. If in some places the transfer of responsibility to producers is considered a success

(Bonneval, 2002, Coulibaly et al., 2006), self-management has often been disappointing (Bethemont

et al., 2003). Professionalization of the various functions of irrigation has been considered but is still

underdeveloped (Compaoré et al., 2002, Vidal et al 2006). The difficulties of managing collective

perimeters, convinced major donors to focus on individual irrigation by farmers or contractors (World

Bank, 2009). African institutions in charge of irrigation are usually weaker than elsewhere in the world.

On one side, most state institutions have been dissolved or destabilized by the Structural Adjustment

Plans (Vidal et al, 2006 Merrey 2010) on the other side farmers lack the training to manage

themselves irrigated schemes.

IRRIGATED CROPS

Irrigated rice remains the main crop grown on irrigated schemes in Burkina Faso. It currently holds

nearly 53% of the irrigated areas. Rice is of considerable economic importance to the country because

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urbans have shifted from the traditional diet based on millet and sorghum to rice and maize. Rice

ranks fourth among grain crops after sorghum, millet and maize, both in cultivated areas than in

production (MAHRH, 2012). Domestic production of paddy is about 200 000 tons per year represents

a significant fraction of domestic consumption. The deficit is met by imports (UEMOA, 2012). The

Burkinabe government has taken a number of measures to support rice production, for instance an

proactive Action Plan for the Rice Sector (PAFR) (Guissou and al., 2011).

The irrigated rice option, preferred by policy maker, is criticized by those who believe that African rice

is not competitive with imported rice, mainly Asian rice. Indeed, low import duties in West African

Ecowas zones and the overvaluation of the CFA franc against the dollar penalize African rice farmers.

The competition from imported rice is unfair (Guissou and al 2011). As the U.S., Thailand and Vietnam

subsidize their own production, imported rice is cheaper. Farmers get low price and ask for better

protection at the border. Asian rice is also considered of poor quality as it sometimes comes from old

stocks.

But there are few alternatives to irrigated rice. Cotton and corn grow well under rainfed conditions,

usually south of the 800 mm isohyets. As such they do not succeed on irrigated schemes. Fruit trees

grow without irrigation area under Sudanian and Guinean climate where they gradually conquer the

lowlands (Bainville and Dufumier, 2007). Sugar cane grown in Mali, Senegal and Burkina Faso, not

competitive on the world market and consumes a lot of precious water. The future of irrigated

vegetable seems more promising as Sahelian countries export more vegetables to the coastal

countries where the wet climate penalizes vegetable. Vegetable require less water and less complex

irrigation infrastructure. Feasible on a wide range of fields, gardening generates significant revenues,

improves nutrition and sustains a large number of intermediaries, often women. However, vegetables

markets are regularly glotted because consumer demand is still weak. Gardening grows at the pace of

the demand and remains for the moment a marginal and risky alternative (Rigourd et al 2002).

SUPPLEMENTAL IRRIGATION

The major disruptions in rainfall experienced during the winter season 2007/2008, particularly

characterized by a sudden cessation of rains in early September have caused a decrease of 16% and

11% of grain production, respectively, compared to the 2006 / 2007 and the average of the previous

five seasons, according to the Department of Agricultural Statistics of Burkina Faso (DSA, 2010).

However, only one rain could have saved the crops and the water may have been provided by a

modest supplemental irrigation. It is in this context, and in view of the underexploited potential of

surface water consisting of approximately 1348 dams and water reservoirs coupled to streams, lakes,

boulis, ponds and thresholds, that the government has started two innovative programs, one of

supplemental irrigation and one of mobile irrigation teams.

Supplemental irrigation consists in providing the adequate dose to plants during dry spells of the rainy

season, in order to reduce water stress and yields loss. The implementation of the practice (Figure-4)

differs depending on the size of the plot, the available water resources, the technical and financial

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capital (Dugue, 1986; Grewal et al, 1989; Dembélé et al, 1999; Fox, 2003; Somé and Ouattara, 2005;

Narayan et al, 2008; CNID-B, 2009).

In the National Program on Adaptation Strategies (PANA, 2006) of Burkina Faso, supplemental

irrigation appeared at the second rank of priority projects in agricultural domain. Although little known

and little practiced by farmers, supplemental irrigation is known by the research in Burkina Faso.

Several research projects have been carried out in the country (Table-3). It is practiced for over twenty

years, but the results of various projects remain mixed. Studies show that the practice is profitable

(Fox, 2003; Panigrahi et al, 2007), but Kumar and van Dam (2008) argue that with high capital cost of

water harvesting systems needed for supplemental irrigation, the small and marginal farmers would

have less incentive to go for it.

The gain in sorghum yields due to supplemental irrigation in the Sahel region is 6 quintals per hectare

(more than 40% of yield) if you soil is ploughed and only one quintal per hectare without tillage

(Dugué, 1986). In his study on sorghum cultivation, Fox (2003) noticed that collection and storage of

surface runoff for supplemental irrigation provided substantially gain of 3-5 greater than farmer yields

during experimental period in northen Burkina Faso. Somé and Ouattara (2005) show that for the

cultivation of sorghum in the northern Sudanian zone, supplemental irrigation improves yields by about

30% in years of poor rainfall.

Though supplemental irrigation would support rainfed production and secure farmers' income, this

practice is not widespread in Burkina Faso. Even if several research projects have been led, this

practice is still not developed among farmers, maybe because of the non-integration of a participative

approach. Since April 2011, the International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering (2iE)

in partnership with others research centres, NGOs and technical departments from the Ministry of

Agriculture and Hydraulics (MAH) and the Ministry of Environment en Sustainable Development

(MEDD), conduct a project on supplemental irrigation. This project tries to bring farmers in the heart of

decision. The MAH, through its General Management for Adjustment and Irrigation Development

(DGADI) has started the digging of several thousand small individual basins for rainwater harvesting in

order to favor supplemental irrigation.

The DADI / DGPV has also started a pilot operation of supplemental irrigation through mobile teams.

Thirty teams have been trained and dispatched in key Areas of Technical Support (ATS). Each team

counts a driver/mechanic and a responsible for irrigation equipped with pumps and hope. This setting

should help secure the production of the rainy season of thousands of rural households. It should also

familiarize farmers with the practice of irrigation during the rainy season, something farmers still have

trouble to conceive. The team will be made responsible for ensuring the irrigation crops affected by

water stress in sites near water points available throughout the area where the demand to involve the

team is formulated. Periods considered as active for the various team will likely be located at the

beginning and end of the campaign. These periods coincide with planting and crop maturation and are

critical phases of production. Therefore, brigades will be in constant solicitation. Similarly, the brigade

will be able to assess the amount of water and the irrigation time taken into account the area of

speculation and the duration of the last rainfall. For this pilot phase, means of operations will be made

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available to each Provincial Directorate through the Regional Directorate to enable brigades to be

mobile. Management and maintenance of pump and tricycle are the responsibility of the provincial

departments that benefit from mobile irrigation teams. At the Beginning and the end of each crop year,

an update on the status of irrigation kit (tricycle and motorized-pump) will be made so that reparations

could be made by each direction in order to keep this kit operational.

CONCLUSION

Burkina Faso’ government is trying to develop a new strategy to overcome its severe biophysical and

socio economic constraints. Past experiences of irrigation have proved expensive and disappointing. It

now concentrates on small individual farmers instead of trying to organize common irrigated schemes

that have proved disappointing over the last few decades. Supplemental irrigation from individual small

basin is a promising progress towards a more dynamic and autonomous farming system. Farmers,

extensionnists and researchers are working together to build a profitable and sustainable agricultural

model based on local specificities. The proposed technology is inexpensive and easily replicable in

rural areas, notably in promoting employment and uses local material. The effective participation of

farmers through a participatory approach and involvement of NGOs alongside research institutions is a

prerequisite for the successful extension of the practice of supplemental irrigation. Supplemental

irrigation is compatible with the recently adopted practices of land conservation practices. Local

knowledge and research can greatly improve agricultural production.

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Some L., Ouattara K. (2005). Irrigation de complément pour améliorer la culture du sorgho au

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FIGURES

Figure-1: Migration of isohyets in Burkina Faso, from North to South (source: Groupe d’experts PANA

du Burkina Faso, 2003).

Figure-2: Coverage of cereal requirements through domestic production (source: CILSS-DIAPER,

2008 In: SWAC-CILSS, 2008).

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Figure-3: Evolution of imports of major cereals (source: CSAO-CILSS, 2008; compilation and

construction based on balance-sheet of cereals from DG/PSA)

Figure-4: The principle of supplemental irrigation.

TABLES

Table-1: Recent food crises in Burkina Faso

Years Causes Consequences Difficulties in management

1972-1973 Drought Thousands of hungry people

1983-1984 Drought

10 of 30 provinces affected with an estimated population of 250,000 inhabitants

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1990-1991 Unfavorable rainfall with infections of crops by locusts

24 of 30 provinces affected with an estimated population of 2.5 million inhabitants

1995-1996 Rainfall deficit marked by early cessation of rains

Cereal deficit of 24,000 tons for a population of 692,000 inhabitants

Late decision and late implementation of assistance operations.

1997-1998 Rainfall deficit 17 of 30 affected provinces with a cereal deficit of 160,000 tons for a population of 910,000 inhabitants

Late decision , insufficient and uneven distribution of food

2007-2008 Rising prices of food and other basic products in the local market

Hunger riots in major cities (Ouagadougou, Bobo-Dioulasso, Koudougou, Ouahigouya)

Late decision and late implementation of assistance operations.

2011-2012 Rainfall deficit 170 affected municipalities with a cereal deficit of 154,462 tons for a population of 2,500,000 inhabitants

Insufficient and uneven distribution of food

Source: Adapted from PNOCSUR (1999)

Table-2: Irrigated areas in five Sahelian countries (source ARID)

Irrigation

management

Burkina

Faso Mali

Mauri-

tania Niger Senegal Total

Large schemes/

public initiative 8 000 62 500 8 000 13 000 29 180 120 680

Village scheme/

public initiative 3 000 9 500 13 000 >21 000 25 500

Village scheme /

collective

initiative

6 000 8 000 In

progress 14 000

Small individual

farmers 4 000 35 000 > 50 000 > 1000

Agrobusiness >30 000 10 000 40 000

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Agro-industrial 4 000 4 500 >10 000 18 500

Flood recession 60 000 60 000 12 000 20 000 to

60 000 152 000

Controled

submersion 85 000 >15 000 100 000

Inland valley 9 000 >22 000

A few

thousand

s

Total 34 000 229 500 116 000 75 000

Table-3: Some experiences of supplemental irrigation in Burkina Faso.

IRRIGATION TO MITIGATE RAINFALL VARIABILITY AND FOOD INSECURITY IN THE SAHEL: NEW IRRIGATION OPTIONS...

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