September 22, 2022

Promoting irrigated groundnut cultivation in the off-season

Soy and Oil Seeds

Niger

The groundnut production season in Niger is usually between July and October. A member of the legume family, groundnuts were once the second most important cash crop after cowpeas. Like all legumes, it has nitrogen-fixing properties that increase soil fertility and thus improve the productivity of agricultural land. This is why in Niger, it is also used for farm intercropping to limit soil impoverishment. In addition, groundnuts are very profitable for farmers and are widely consumed by households in several forms (oil, paste and cake, etc.).

Maradi, Zinder, Dosso, Tillabéry, Tahoua and Niamey are the main groundnut production basins in Niger. However, after the usual production season, the success of which depends mainly on rainfall, the sector faces several challenges, including access to land, particularly for women, lower yields and productivity, as well as attacks by molds such as aflatoxin, and other crop pests such as insects and animals.

Aware of the innumerable advantages that abound in this sector, the government has decided to promote and revive it. This decision, after having aroused the enthusiasm of the growers, is slow to materialize. Thus, driven by a strong desire to boost the sector, a producer decided to start growing groundnuts using irrigation in the off season. Mr. Mahamadou Abou is an experienced producer from the locality of Guidan Idder, Konni district, Tahoua region. Although the practice is not completely new in Niger, through the AINOMA-2SCALE partnership, he became one of the pioneers who gave new life to this groundnut production technique.

Groundnuts in Niger are in high demand on the market due to the increasing presence of processing industries such as STA. Local production during the rainy season is not able to meet this demand. Most companies get their supplies from neighboring countries. Thus, with the availability of cultivable land, we decided to experiment with the production of groundnuts in the off-season to fill the gap and avoid disruption to processing units. In addition, this contributes to increasing our income,

said Mr. Mahamadou.

Strengthening continuous groundnut production

Until now, the system has not been widely used in Niger, and it was only last year, following capacity building sessions on eco-efficient practices by 2SCALE, that some of the partnership's farmers decided to adopt this system in order to be able to produce peanuts all year round. Considered as a solution to increase the income of small-scale farmers by creating employment for young people, another major challenge continues to haunt farmers, that of investment in irrigation. Indeed, the acquisition of irrigation equipment requires costs that are beyond the reach of farmers' financial capacities. Access to bank credit is also a challenge in addition to the lack of control over the irrigation system or schedule. Currently, existing irrigation systems, especially non-upgraded pipelines, require more effort and are not very profitable.

Despite these numerous challenges, farmers do not intend to give up because following the first demonstrations, yields were beyond their expectations. In the village of Sarkin Hatchi, Maradi region, Elhadj Moudi Aboubacar experimented with the 55-437 variety, using a modern sprinkler irrigation system powered by solar panels. He said:

In the irrigated production system, water control is a very important factor that allows to improve productivity and to obtain a better price compared to the traditional cultivation in the rainy season. The yield obtained at harvest is 1700kg/ha against 800kg/ha for rainfed crops.

As part of its promotion towards green innovation technologies, 2SCALE strengthens innovative practices that explicitly reduce environmental risks, and increase the resilience of farming systems and improve the efficiency of food systems.

For the same variety of rainfed groundnuts, which gives an average yield of 800 kg/ha, farmers have managed to achieve almost twice that amount with the irrigated system, hence their motivation for this practice, which is gradually becoming established in the agribusiness clusters of the 2SCALE partnership in Niger.

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