Effets du travail minimum du sol en sec sur la flexibilité du calendrier agricole et le rendement du maïs en zone soudanienne du Burkina Faso

Abstract

Effects of Minimum Tillage on the Flexibility of the Agricultural Calendar and on Maize Yields in the Sudanese Region of Burkina Faso. The spatial and temporal variations, the sporadic rains and drought pockets make unpredictable the installation of crops after plowing in the current technical system. The aim of our study was to evaluate, in real conditions of farming, the effect of the minimum tillage on the flexibility of the agricultural calendar at the beginning of the rainy season and on the maize yield. We compared the minimum tillage (MT) on dry soil and the conventional tillage (CT) on moist soil. These treatments were installed on plots by 23 farmers in 2010 and by 17 farmers in 2011. The results show a diversity in farmers practice. Overall, MT provides yields and gross margins equivalent to those of conventional tillage. MT makes it possible to achieve early planting and take advantage of the first useful rains. However, MT induced a non-significant (p>0.05) increase in working time compared to CT. MT practiced farms using animal traction can help in better organizing the crop calendar, especially during the planting period with performances equivalent to those of conventional tillage.

Keywords

• Tillage
• Practices diversity
• Working time
• Animal traction
• Burkina Faso