From Africa Recovery, Vol.11#2 (October 1997), page 20 (part of special feature on Agriculture in Africa)

Burkina Faso protects its fragile soils

Environmental sustainability is key to agricultural revival

By Jean-Marie Sawadogo, Ouagadougou

The land provides us with all our food," explains Mr. Pierre Lagwaré, a grain farmer. "So we're obliged to give back to it the nutrients it needs to ensure our production. Our survival depends on that."

Like other farmers in the village of Goué, some 30 kilometres from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, he is worried about the fertility of his land, which has been declining year after year from overexploitation and poor farming practices. In many villages in this region of the central plateau, where methods to combat erosion and restore soil fertility have not been well disseminated, millet yields remain low, compared with the west, where the soil is richer, or even with the arid Yatenga region in the north, where soil conservation techniques are more widely practised.

Unlike some of his neighbours, Mr. Lagwaré has learned about anti-erosion and soil-recovery practices, and is aware of the opportunities for increased production if the land can be regenerated. But he does not have the resources to put his knowledge into practice.

The government shares the concerns of farmers like Mr. Lagwaré. It believes that Burkina's economic development depends on a significant increase in agricultural production, to attain food security, raise rural incomes and improve the trade balance. Agriculture employs 86 per cent of the economically active population and accounts for 30 per cent of the country's gross domestic product.

Agriculture/environment linkages

The government also believes that increasing farm output must be done in a sustainable manner, integrating agricultural, environmental and population considerations. According to Mr. Christophe Yaméogo, who oversees the government's 1996-98 agriculture sector adjustment programme, agriculture and livestock cannot be developed in Burkina without "a sustainable development approach which emphasizes using natural resources in a non-degradeable and renewable manner." Local communities have been given responsibility for managing their farmlands, pastures and forests to ensure that development projects place a high priority on environmental protection.

Developing agriculture on a sustainable basis will require significant financing, at a time when development assistance has tended to decline overall. However, through its adjustment programme, supported by the World Bank and other donor institutions, the government has been able to mobilize financing for agriculture, while it also is receiving help from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other partners.

Together with favourable rains last year, these efforts brought a cereal harvest of 2.4 mn tonnes in the 1996/97 season, 7.5 per cent higher than the previous harvest, while the production of cotton, the main export crop, reached an all-time record of 206,000 tonnes. However, uneven rains this July and August have many farmers worried about the coming season.

The general decline in soil fertility in Burkina is a result of overcultivation, especially in the cereal zones, as well as overgrazing. These have led to a shortening of fallow periods and have obstructed the replenishment of the soil's natural nutrients. Nationally, only 15 per cent of farmers have adopted anti-erosion techniques, while just 9 per cent use organic fertilizers and 8 per cent practice agro-forestry.

The Soil Fertility Management Unit (UGFS), set up by the government in 1995 with financial support from the Netherlands, urges implementation of a national strategy integrating management of soil fertility with the development of agricultural input markets. Noting that only some 2,400 tonnes of locally produced phosphate fertilizer are being used each year (out of estimated national phosphate reserves of some 100 mn tonnes), UGFS expert Mr. Jean-Claude Dabiré emphasizes the need to apply much more phosphate fertilizer, in conjunction with organic fertilizers. "If we don't overcome our soil's phosphate deficiency," he says, "it will not be possible to develop agriculture on a sustainable basis."

But the situation has been uncertain since the government withdrew from the marketing of agricultural inputs, especially mineral fertilizer, leaving this activity to the private sector. Unfortunately, private operators have not shown much enthusiasm.

Fertilizer too costly

According to Mr. Ninda Taoko, president of the Roumtenga village association, mineral fertilizer was readily available in the past and his association bought it in bulk, reselling to farmers on credit. "But today, everyone has to get their own. And when they can find it, the price is beyond our means." Mr. Henk Nugteren, an economist working with the UGFS, notes that while the cost of mineral fertilizer is unfavourable for cereal producers, farmers producing cash crops, such as cotton, can generally afford it. As a result, many grain producers have given up using fertilizer, and simply pray for good rains. But water alone cannot nourish the soil.

The UGFS is meeting with private entrepreneurs to encourage them to invest in the importation and marketing of fertilizer throughout the country. Mr. Nugteren thinks the government should set up a purchasing centre to achieve economies of scale and lower costs.

Another result of liberalization has been the spread of fraudulent practices, in which poor quality products are sold to farmers at low prices, contributing to losses in output.

Mr. Georges Henry Ouéda, programme director for Naturama, a Burkinabè NGO, notes that besides the availability and accessibility of fertilizer, farmers need to receive more training and information about their proper use. "We think that making farmers aware of how environmental degradation harms agriculture can only increase their support for the programmes set up for their benefit," he says.

Participatory approach

Many farmers are still unaware that their soil's fertility can be improved, indicating the need for greater dissemination of soil recovery techniques. The Directorate of Agricultural Extension (DVA) has been working for several years with various NGOs to help train and organize farmers, and now covers 7,300 out of Burkina's more than 8,000 villages.

The DVA pursues a participatory approach, emphasizing identification of the needs and concerns of the producers themselves, to better support them. "The concerns of the people form the basis of themes for intervention and training," explains Mr. Robert Bonkoungou of the DVA. "The themes that are disseminated most often establish an 'interlinkage' between agriculture and the environment."

Farmers are warned about the dangers of using mineral fertilizer alone and to always apply it together with organic compost, to improve the soil's water-retention capacity and thereby improve yields. They are encouraged to grow fodder crops for livestock to reduce overgrazing that depletes the vegetation cover. In the north many farmers have been taught how to build bunds with stone, earth and vegetation to slow water run-off and thus prevent topsoil erosion.

Higher-yielding seeds are also important, and the research station in Kamboincin has been developing improved varieties of rice and other grains for distribution to farmers. The DVA is training farmers to multiply stocks of improved seeds, for use on their own fields or for sale to other farmers.

Combatting deforestation

Another common concern is deforestation. Each year, the country loses 32,000 hectares of forests, through clearing for agriculture and the cutting of trees for fuelwood. Burkina's population depends on fuelwood for 90 per cent of its household energy needs. Worried about the harm deforestation is causing to the environment, the government has involved the population in tree-planting operations, is seeking to regulate tree-cutting and is promoting the use of more efficient domestic stoves that use less wood.

The government's National Centre for Forestry Seeds, which specializes in seed varieties for reforestation, produced 3 mn seedlings last year. Recently it has been emphasizing certain varieties which not only help protect the environment, but also yield marketable products that can increase rural incomes.

Many NGOs are encouraging farmers to minimize land clearing and combine cultivation with tree planting and the maintenance of natural vegetation cover. The Long Live the Farmer Association (AVLP) promotes "assisted natural regeneration," in which farmers are shown how to cut fuelwood selectively, while conserving vegetation that provides soil nutrients. The Delwende Development Association, another NGO, helps villagers set up tree nurseries and trains farmers to teach agro-forestry techniques to other farmers.

Mr. Jean Dipama, a farmer in Saaba, invested heavily in agro-forestry several years ago, but the venture failed. "I planted more than 2,000 trees on an area that I had farmed for decades. But most seedlings were destroyed by animals that other farmers simply let loose for grazing."

This highlights another common problem in Burkina: the apparent competition between agriculture and stockraising, although the two should be complementary. Their integration is vital for developing agriculture in a way that safeguards the environment. To that end, the DVA is training farmers to cut and store fodder, so that their animals can be fed in chosen locations and do not graze across cultivated fields.

Small-scale irrigation

Given the uncertainty of the rains, greater efforts are being made to manage the country's scarce water resources. In particular, the government is seeking to develop irrigated rice cultivation, especially around the Bagré dam and other publicly funded irrigation projects, both to improve food availability and to reduce the costly importation of some 100,000 tonnes of rice each year.

However, the large investments needed for such irrigation projects (costing the equivalent of $4-6,000 per hectare) place them beyond the reach of most individual farmers. The agricultural extension services therefore emphasize rainfed rice farming in the lowlands. According to Mr. Bonkoungou, the DVA is developing rice varieties suitable to the lowlands and making them available to farmers at "accessible" prices.

Nevertheless, the government is seriously considering the development of small-scale and private irrigation projects. It has been conducting a campaign for several months now to encourage the private sector to invest in irrigation. The promulgation in January 1997 of new land tenure legislation permitting private ownership of land should make such investments more attractive.

The number of private irrigation works already had been growing. Last year, private irrigated rice farms produced nearly 33,800 tonnes of rice on 7,660 hectares. This was an important contribution to national rice production, which totalled 112,000 tonnes in 1996, nearly double the 61,000 tonnes produced two years earlier.

While farming in Burkina remains a difficult occupation, Mr. Lagwaré persists. With just a little help, he is convinced, he can organize together with other farmers "to achieve great things."

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