Burkina faso

• Sahel


  Semi arid land between Sahara desert and humid Savannahs
• The Sahel dry lands are one of the world's poorest regions
• Sahel


  • Low precipitation 100-300mm annually
  • Played by drought + food insecurity
• Dry season


  1. Insufficient rainfall

  2. Water scarcity

  3. Low vegetation production

  4. Severe reduction in tree coverage
• Loss of plants + animals

  Low biodiversity - crops are more susceptible to pest attacks i.e locusts
• Rainy season


  1. Intense bursts of precipitation

  2. Washes away soil, newly planted seeds and crops
• Land is degraded to unusable state
• People forced to migrate to more prosperous areas
• The Sahel has the highest rates of birth on earth
• Rapid increase in population

  More strain in food production = agricultural intensification = loss of soil fertility
• 80% of farm lands suffer from land degradation
• Local farmers + NGOs

  • 3 solutions, to restore degraded soils
  • Farmers use Zai pits
  • Stones to produce contour bands
  • Using better adapted plants
• Increased 40% increase in crop production in one year
• Zai pits


  1. Include the piling of soil on edges

  2. Put organic matter within pit

  3. Soil acts as barrier + causes water to flow in

  4. Organic matter attract termites, which loosen soil to increase infiltration of water
• In Burkina Faso, as part of the Fair Sahel project, INERA researchers are carrying out agronomic trials aimed at replacing part of the organic manure from zaï pockets with microdoses of mineral fertilizer. A way to improve sorghum yields while removing a major obstacle to adoption: the high cost of organic matter. Agronomists are also working to combine cereals such as sorghum with legumes such as cowpea in the same pockets. Finally, they are testing zaï on new crops, such as corn, cotton, watermelon and horticultural crops such as eggplant.
• Mechanized production of Zai pits

  1. Instead of digging manually, make cross passages with a tine hitched to an animal and sow at the intersection of the furrows

  2. Working time goes from 380 to 50 hours per hectare
• In the rural commune of Ndiob, in Senegal, Mayor Oumar Ba distributed mechanical augers to farmers, making the production of pits very easy and quick.
• Wet season and harvesting water

  1. Harvest rain water

  2. Reduce soil erosions

  3. Farmers use stones to produce contours bands, which act as a sieve and reduce flow of water = prevent mineral from being washed of field

  4. Allows ground water stores to replenish
• Tree survival of 77%
• Planting seeds/ trees


  1. Seeds are plants in early July = increases crop yields and tree cover

  2. Farmers select + use better adapted plants/trees, use straight stems, cut of stems = prevent completion
• Sustainable farming by Goran in Senegal


  • Permaculture forms a lush oasis in desert, Sahel
  • Started with a single coconut tree
  • Different plants, to create multiple mini ecosystems, trees help other plants grow better, multi level cultivation; papaya and turnips
  • No pesticides
  • Harvests throughout the year
  • Coconut, microclimate for mint
  • Farm turned into a school, 20 students taught how to learn sustainable farming
  • Interdependence
  • Almonds, attract birds + bees and pollinators
  • Hope to change tradition on peanut + maize farming ti spread sustainable farming techniques
• Yacouba Sawadogo


  • Faced with the advance of the desert, he unearthed zaï, a technique through which he managed to revitalize and reforest 27 hectares of degraded land
  • Awarded "Champion of the Earth" by the United Nations and made famous thanks to a book
  • Yacouba Sawadogo has become the symbol of an Africa that innovates in the face of desertification
• Niger farmers export surplus
• More trees


  More shade + more biodiversity + rise in water levels + less erosion
• NGO's in the sahel

  • Livelihood funds
  • Tiipaalaga, grassroots NGO, project management + effective presence
  • Jacigreen, turns water hyacinth = invasive species into fertiliser bio gas and energy, can help 100 farms
  • SOS Sahel, helps farmers in the effective sale of local produce
• Warrantage system by SOS Sahel

  1. Farmers store their crops just after harvest in exchange for a payment of 80% of the market price

  2. Six months later, farmers can take back their produce, when the demand is high, either for their own consumption or sale at a better price, paying back the initial amount with interest

  3. Makes farmers less vulnerable to market fluctuations and seasonality
• 1999-2012, 4000 hearers rook part in the rehabilitation project by sos- Sahel, 40,000 trees were planted
• Local deforestation, slash and burn forest due to poverty > must expand farmland
• IPCC agriculture yield could be reduced by up to 50% in many African countries is projected to be severely compromised
• Most farmers migrate due to the unfarmable land, i.e moving to Ivory Coast's farmlands
• 1960s rise in temp of 1.7 degrees
• 2010 - 2011, rural populations suffer disproportionately, as 80% of them survive off subsistence farming
• 0.5-2m decrease of ground water, wells are dry, water is scarce, have to buy water
• Burkina Faso Vulnerability


  • Rainfall variability (irregular rainfall patterns between 200-600mm p.a.)
  • Severe droughts through 1970s and 80s (long period of declining rainfall referred to as the 'desiccation')
  • Fragile aridisols, low in nutrients and prone to laterisation, soils and rocks are depleted of soluble substances
  • Intense summer rainfall leads to erosion of the fragile crusted soils
  • Long dry seasons, 8/9 months
  • Torrential rain, washes all soil away
• Human Factors in Burkina Faso Vulnerability

  • Unproductive farming systems likely to lead to overexploitation of land
  • Poverty means farmers cannot afford new technologies/irrigation
  • Cultural resistance to new technologies/farming practices
  • Urbanisation: land abandonment
  • Poor governance and conflict mean that priorities not always with environment/rural poor
  • Population migration: outmigration from villages leads to land abandonment & degradation
  • Spread of urban areas leads to 'ring of desolation' as charcoal burners deforest surrounding areas
  • Population growth in some rural areas: increased demand for food has led to overcultivation of existing land and expansion of crops onto marginal land (dry, hilly etc.)
  • Increased demand for fuelwood has led to deforestation
• Desertification Impacts


  • Migration: decreases population in villages, increases urban populations
  • Malnutrition: increases infant & child mortality
  • Famine: excess mortality cause by starvation (in conjunction with poor governance, conflict
  • Poverty: women & girls carry water further as wells dry up (e.g. Ranawa)
  • Lower levels of female literacy & consequent higher fertility rates
• 500 million people live on land undergoing desertification in sub Saharan Africa
• Reduction in biodiversity


  N Burkina Faso, climatic climax vegetation = scrub & forest 'the bush'. Loss of tree species & the birds & insects they support.
• Loss of topsoil


  Loss of soil organisms and dead organic matter
• Saline duricrusts develop in many areas. Consequent loss of productivity, plant cover & biomass