Supplementary irrigation and climate information : from research to strengthening adaptive capacity in the Sahel

The IDRC-funded project “Irrigation and climate change in Burkina Faso: Research on institutional and community capacity building” tested two innovations towards resolving problems of climate change in the Sahel: supplementary irrigation, and climate information. Catch basins, built with low-cost, local materials improve food security and reduce the impact of dry spells on agricultural production. Burkina Faso’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security acknowledged the effectiveness of supplementary irrigation and has implemented a national basin construction program. Next steps include training of technical agriculture officers in basin design, cultivation and irrigation techniques, and raising awareness about the technology

Supplementary irrigation and climate information : from research to strengthening adaptive capacity in the Sahel

Supplementary irrigation from runoff catch basins reduces the negative impact of dry spells on agricultural production in the Sahel. Climate change is causing more frequent extreme weather events, recurrent and longer dry spells, and greater uncertainty about the planting date and duration of the growing season. Supplementary irrigation is a technique by which farmers water crops during long dry spells in the rainy season using runoff water stored in basins near the crop fields. Access to climate information allowed 90% of farmers involved in the project to avoid reseeding and to better schedule farming activities. The Meteorology Directorate must build weather stations to improve forecasting

Modifications des températures et des précipitations sur le Bani, un sous-bassin du fleuve Niger.

International audienc

Diversification and adaptation strategies to climate variability : a farm typology for the Sahel

Sahelian farmers tend to diversify their activities to reduce their vulnerability to external shocks. It is important to distinguish between farmers' types response to these shocks as well as to policy incentives. To develop a typology of farmer adaptation strategies, evaluate the level of vulnerability and assess perceptions of policies, two detailed questionnaire surveys were conducted in a community in northern Burkina Faso. Statistical analysis included a cluster analysis to distinguish farmers' types with regard to their assets and strategies. The results show that the main factors of discrimination were family size, access to small irrigation plots and number of animals. The types react differently to climate variability and are likely to follow contrasting pathways of adaptation. Farmers' food vulnerability is still high according to the applied CILSS vulnerability index, and farmers are pessimistic about their capacity to handle future droughts. They see improved credit schemes and further development of irrigation as the most promising adaptation strategies