Effets des changements climatiques sur les activitees agricoles dans la commune de banikoara (nord benin)

Abstract

The study conducted in the Commune of Banikoara which is recognised as a big agricultural producer and the leader in the cotton production, aimed at measuring the effects of climatic changes on agricultural production and grasping the evolution of the farmer’s practices in response to the climatic changes. The methodology used in this study repose on two steps consisting of collecting raining and production data for many years at the communal level, and making some investigations at the farmers’ exploitations level. The result yield from this study allowed to understand the manifestations of the climatic changes and to grasp the adaptation measures used by the farmers. The study reveals that the volume and the number of days of rain in a year have reduced during the last few years. Thus the rain volume that was between 1000 and 1200 mm and even reached a peak of 1500 mm now remains at 1000 and sometime below that level. The number of rainy days in a year also drops from 60 days to 50 days. These very significant climatic changes manifestations cause the decrease of the yield of the main cultivated agricultural products. Moreover, they influence the farmers’ practices especially the choice of the priority crops with the maize substituting to the cotton as cash crop, and the increase of the areas cultivated with sorghum which is more adapted to the drought. Modifications have also occurred in the agricultural calendar and in the choice of the short cycle, resistant to the drought and high yield varieties. The farmers’ perception of the occurrence of the climatic changes has become obvious.