INDIGENOUS RAIN WATER HARVESTING (IRWH) IN SUB-SAHARAN WEST-AFRICA promoting resilience and helping smallholder farmers to combat the challenges of climate change

Documentation of proven practices, tools or policies that promote resilience and help farmers to address the challenges posed by climate change

Irénikatché AKPONIKPE, Ismail MOUMOUNI and Mohamed N. BACO Université de Parakou, BENIN August 2015

Outline

¨  What is the specific climate change challenge n  being addressed in the case study?

¨  The practice and how it helps farmers to address the challenges? ¨  Development process :

n  What were the processes that led to the development of the practice, tool or policy?

n  What triggered its development? Key institutions/champions involved in its development?

¨  Impacts: n  positive or negative on farmers? Changes increase food production in the

face of climate change? unplanned effects (positive or negative)?

¨  Adoption: n  How widely has the practice, tool or policy been adopted e.g. current

number of farmers or size of area, effectiveness? Trend in the level of adoption and why?

Specific climate change challenge being addressed in the case study?

¨  The problem ¤ Rainfall amount reduction ¤ Decrease in rainy days (dry spells) ¤  Increase in the occurence of heavy rains (erosion risk)

Specific climate change challenge being addressed in the case study?

¨  Consequence on agriculture and food security ¤ Soil degradation ¤ Uncertain yields ¤ Recurent famines

The practices and how do they help farmers to address the challenges? ¨  Promissing IRWH in West-Africa in the context of CC

¤ On-farm micro catchment structures n Zai or tassa (small holes about 0.2-0.40 m wide and

0.10-0.25 m deep)

n Half moon (hole in the form of a half-moon about 1-3 m long x 1-2 m radius , and placing the removed earth on the downhill side)

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The practices and how do they help farmers to address the challenges? ¨  Promissing IRWH in West-Africa in the context of CC

¤ On-farm soil particles or stones arrangements n Stone lines or bunds and variants (stone bund, etc)

n earthen bunds and variants (contour b., zig-zag , tied b. etc)

Development process

¨  Processes that led to their development ¤  Previously developed as response to water erosion techniques ¤  but localised in erosion vulnerable lands and areas

¨  Trigger mechanisms ¤  have evolved in the semi-arid areas of West Africa as a response

n  to harsh climatic conditions (recurrent drought, dry spells) n  Climate change

¤  irrigation systems failed in the region and only a few of them are still functioning (private companies)

¤  Potentials of being associated with organic matter application against wide spread soil fertility decline

¤  developed by west-African farmers themselves and which, most probably fit their socio-economic and environmental situations

¤  Recently disseminated as CC adaptation strategies

Development process

¨  Institutions ¤ Development

n Farmer individuals and association ¤ Scientific evidence

n National Agricultural Research Institutions (West African NARS and Universities)

n  International Research Institutions (ICRISAT) ¤ Promotion

n National Agricultural Advisory Services n NGOs n Projects (NAPAs and other CC adaptation projects)

Impacts

¨  Soil water conservation and soil fertility improvement (Fatondji, 2001, Zougmore 2003) ¤  Infiltration is improved, ¤ Runoff and soil erosion is reduced, ¤ Enhancing nutrient availability.

¨  Crop yield and biomass improvement ¤ Grain yield and biomass of cereals (millet eg Fatondji,

2001; sorghum eg Zougmore 2003) were shown to be improved under IRWH by 30 – 50 %.

Impacts

¨  Biodiversity enhancement : ¤  IRWH were shown to help conserve biodiversity by the fact

that n  plants start to grow in places where there were bare degraded

soils (Bangoura, 2002), n  change in animal diversity as as more biomass becomes available

for food and shelter (Pandey, 2001).

¨  Sustainaible livelihood and resilience enhancement ¤  The adoption of RWH proved to have a positive effect on

incomes, measured in return to labour (Cofie et al., 2004), ¤  enable sustainaible livelihood (food security and more

income) then resulting in more resilience against climate change.

Adoption

¨  High adoption potential as being simple to learn, implement, adapt and of low cost.

¨  Figures mulptiplied by 15 à 24 if considered combined with organic application (Hassane et al. 2000)

¨  Uneven adoption accross climatic zones ¤ Wide adoption in arid and semi-arid areas (northern

Burkina, Mali, Senegal and Niger) ¤  Increasingly adopted in wetter areas of soudano-sahelian

and soudanian areas (northern Benin, Togo, Ghana and Ivory coast

¨  Upscaling pressing need