eprintid: 10557
rev_number: 13
eprint_status: archive
userid: 1305
dir: disk0/00/01/05/57
datestamp: 2018-04-12 08:46:57
lastmod: 2018-04-12 08:46:57
status_changed: 2018-04-12 08:46:57
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
contact_email: Library-ICRISAT@CGIAR.ORG
creators_name: Akponikpe, P B I
creators_name: Minet, J
creators_name: Gerard, B
creators_name: Defourny, P
creators_name: Bielders, C L
icrisatcreators_name: Gerard, B
affiliation: Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Earth and Life Institute (Louvain-la-Neuve)
affiliation: Université de Parakou (UP), Faculté d’Agronomie (FA), Environmental Soil Physics and Hydraulics Unit (PSHE) (Parakou)
affiliation: ICRISAT (Niamey)
country: Belgium
country: Benin
country: Niger
title: Spatial fields’ dispersion as a farmer strategy to reduce agro-climatic risk at the household level in pearl millet-based systems in the Sahel: A modeling perspective
ispublished: pub
subjects: CL1
subjects: S1.5.1
subjects: n345
subjects: s2.8
subjects: s4001
subjects: s4009
subjects: s52
full_text_status: restricted
keywords: Rainfall, Variability, Agro-climatic risk, Field dispersion, Millet, GIS, Soil fertility, Pearl millet, Spatial fields, Sahel, Cropping systems, Crop modeling
note: This research was part of the project entitled ‘Improved livelihoods
in the Sahel through the development and implementation
of household level bio-economic decision support systems’ funded
by the Belgian Development Cooperation (DGDC). We thank Luc
Descroix of the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD,
Niger) for providing the high resolution rainfall data of Banizoumbou
and Eduardo C. de Araujo Marinho F. for his rewarding
discussions and for drawing our attention to the use of the ISDF
index. The valuable contribution by the anonymous referees in the
review process is gratefully acknowledged.
abstract: The rainfall pattern in the Sahel is very erratic with a high spatial variability. We tested the often reported hypothesis that the dispersion of farmers’ fields around the village territory helps mitigate agro-climatic risk by increasing yield stability from year to year. We also wished to evaluate whether this strategy had an effect on the yield disparity among households in a village. Based on a network of approximately 60 rain gauges spread over 500 km2 in the Fakara region (Southwest Niger), daily rainfall was interpolated at 300 m × 300 m resolution over a 12-year period. This data was used to compute, by means of the APSIM crop simulation model, millet biomass and grain yields at the pixel scale. Simulated yields were combined with the land tenure map of the Banizoumbou village in a GIS to assess millet yield at field and household level. Agro-climatic risk analysis was performed using linear regression between a spatial dispersion index of household fields and the inter-annual (instability) and inter-household (disparity) millet yield variability of 107 households in the village territory. We find that the spatial variability of annual rainfall induces an even higher spatial variability of millet production at pixel, field and household levels. The dispersion of farm fields reduces moderately but significantly the disparity of millet yield between households each year and increases the inter-annual yield stability of a given household. The less the household fields are scattered, the more the presence of a fertility gradient around the village enhances the inter-annual stability but also the disparity between households. Our results provide evidence that field dispersion is an effective strategy to mitigate agro-climatic risk, as claimed by farmers in the Sahelian Niger. Although the results should be confirmed by further research on longer term rainfall spatial data, it is clearly advisable that any land reforms in the area take into account the benefits of field dispersion to mitigate climatic risk.
date: 2011
date_type: published
publication: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
volume: 151
number: 2
publisher: Elsevier
pagerange: 215-227
id_number: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2010.10.007
refereed: TRUE
issn: 01681923
official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2010.10.007
related_url_url: https://scholar.google.co.in/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=+Spatial+fields%27+dispersion+as+a+farmer+strategy+to+reduce+agro-climatic+risk+at+the+household+level+in+pearl+millet-based+systems+in+the+Sahel%3A+A+modeling+perspective&btnG=
related_url_type: pub
funders: Belgian Development Cooperation (DGDC)
citation:   Akponikpe, P B I and Minet, J and Gerard, B and Defourny, P and Bielders, C L  (2011) Spatial fields’ dispersion as a farmer strategy to reduce agro-climatic risk at the household level in pearl millet-based systems in the Sahel: A modeling perspective.  Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 151 (2).  pp. 215-227.  ISSN 01681923     
document_url: http://oar.icrisat.org/10557/1/akponikp2011.pdf