Athanase Ouedraogo - Head of Department of irrigated farming development, Ministry of Agriculture, Hydraulics and Fish Stock / Small Irrigation Development Program

The total irrigated area in Burkina faso is about 233,000 hectares, some over 70% of which are in the West South West and East Centre regions and about 4% in the Sahel region. The country is tropical and monsoonal with annual rainfall varying from 200 mm to 1000 mm depending on localities. Till now the principle irrigated crop has been paddy and irrigation has been needed in the wet season to provide water during dry spells. Despite the good macroeconomic performance obtained through the adoption and the implementation of stabilizing programmes and structural reforms in order to improve the management of public finance and to liberalize the economy sector, living conditions of the population have not been significantly improved and Burkina faso is still facing the challenge of poverty with over 46% of the population living below the poverty line. As population and food requirements are increasing, on the basis of the guidelines of the Poverty reduction Strategic Plan (PRSP), the government decided to significantly promote the development of the small-scale village irrigation as part oft the strategic policy actions of the Rural Development Strategy. In this context, a small-scale village irrigation development pilot program which aims primarily at achieving self-sufficiency in food has been implemented. Relying on farmer’s participatory, on the whole, the small-scale irrigation has yielded benefits. They include use of irrigation in the dry season as well as in the wet season to provide water during dry spells for food crops (maize and beans) production, reduced immigration of young rural population during the dry season and increased agricultural activities. Yields per hectare have increased in areas where dependable water is available. There have been increases in cropping intensities, which have increased agricultural activities and stimulated a rise in local business activity. Finally the implementation of the small-scale irrigation pilot actions helped to attain selfsufficiency in cereals in Burkina faso for two years. While substantial benefits have been obtained from the small – scales village irrigation development pilot program, much remains to be realized: in most regions the benefits have not yet reached all the part of the population that lives under the threshold of extreme poverty estimated at 27.8%. Constraints include: • Lack of water availability and formal land tenure system, which has delayed the motivation and restricted irrigation activities; • Difficulties in implementing a cropping calendar that optimize water use, largely due to delays and uncertainties in the supply of agricultural inputs, and lack of commercialization possibilities and structures • Lack of training of irrigation operational personnel and producers on irrigated areas choosing; • Lack of communication between farmers and irrigation operational personnel and organization of producers. Experience shows that farmer’s participation is a key factor in the successful development of irrigation. However, methods, procedures and policies to motivate and train farmers for effective participation are still in an early phase of development. Pilot actions and measures to test appropriate concepts and methods are being conducted. Early results point to the importance of strong government support for participatory approaches, training at all level, new attitudes of irrigation personnel, new procedures and methods to assist farmers in funding, commercialization of the produced cash crops and capacity building in promoting of the local industries and traders to respond to farmer’s needs.

small-scale irrigation scheme, cropping calendar, farmers’ participatory, self-sufficiency in food, rural development strategy, multi criteria analysis and responsabilisation