Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
common practice observed in Burkina Faso is that after farmers harvest their
tomatoes, they immediately plant potatoes which they irrigate until the
beginning of the rainyseason.
In Ghana permanent shallow well irrigators cultivate once (e.g. tomatoes,
okra and pepper at a time) in the dry season and in few cases a maximum of
two crops in succession.
The ownership of permanent shallow wells in Ghana is identified with men
who own the irrigated plots. The role of women in this technology is to
support their husbands in watering, harvesting and selling of the products.
The reason why women don't own these irrigation technologies is because
ownership of a permanent shallow well is directly linked with land ownership,
and the land tenure system disallows women from owning land in the area.
The positive development observed is that some men develop permanent
shallow wells on separate plots for their wives to use for irrigation. In
Burkina Faso, women are seen cultivating the permanent shallow well
irrigation schemes but they belong to organised irrigator groups.
Management
In Burkina Faso, almost all permanent shallow well irrigators observed
within the study area were in organised farmer groups. In some cases (both
in Ghana and Burkina Faso) some farmers had their own fenced permanent
shallow well farms but belonged to a farmer group comprising permanent
shallow well farmers in the vicinity. These groups have elected executives
who lead the day to day activities of the group. In another case in Burkina
Faso a permanent shallow well farmer group had a fenced 8 acres of land
which they had developed for irrigation. In that group, the wells belonged to
the farmer group and the group executives were responsible for sharing plots
and managing the system.
The formation of irrigator groups is being pushed by the government of
Burkina Faso which aims to improve irrigation farming in the country by
assisting organised irrigator groups. In one instance, the government
supported the improvement of permanent shallow wells (deepening and lining
the wells to make them last). There were plans to also furnish the beneficiary
farmer organisation with a motorized pump. Also in Burkina when the
government improves a permanent shallow well irrigation scheme, a series of
training courses are organised for the farmers on farm management and
government officials help them to secure credit. Such farmer groups are
recognised by the Ministry of Agriculture and have extension officers
assigned to them.
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