Opportunities for Agricultural Water Management interventions in the Nariarlé watershed in Burkina Faso

The document evaluates AWM strategies in the Nariarlé watershed, finding that improving rainfed agriculture and expanding gardening wells offer the broadest benefits. While small reservoirs have improved production, they face siltation and lack coordinated watershed-level governance, which is further complicated by the urban expansion of Ouagadougou.

• Livelihoods in the Nariarlé watershed are primarily dependent on low-yielding rainfed agriculture, meaning that AWM interventions focused on in-situ improvements to rainfed systems would benefit the largest number of stakeholders.
• Improving soil and nutrient management for rainfed crops could significantly increase yields—maize from 2 t ha-1 to between 4.7 and 5.5 t ha-1, and millet from 2 t ha-1 to approximately 3 t ha-1—with negligible effects on groundwater and surface water flows.
• Due to high population density and the fact that 73% of land is already cultivated, agricultural growth must rely on intensification. Increasing irrigated vegetable crops to two or three harvests per year could increase yields by 50% to 7.7 t ha-1 (dry weight) without significantly impacting water flows, as irrigated vegetables occupy less than 0.5% of the watershed.
• Small reservoirs are critical for irrigated gardening, but siltation is reducing their storage capacity. Increasing dam storage by 50% to 100% would result in a reduction of surface flow by 20% to 26%.
• The development of gardening wells and improved access to reservoir water are identified as the interventions likely to provide the most positive outcomes for the widest range of stakeholders.
• The institutional landscape consists of diverse, mainly informal arrangements centered around reservoirs, but there is no single organization coordinating land and water activities across the entire watershed, which hinders the management of negative externalities.
• The urban expansion of Ouagadougou, specifically the "Schéma d’aménagement de Grand Ouaga," may discourage smallholder farmers from investing in new water management technologies due to uncertainty regarding future land and water access.

APA

de Bruin, A., Cambridge, H., Stein, C., Ouattara, K., & Paré, S. (2011). Opportunities for Agricultural Water Management interventions in the Nariarlé watershed in Burkina Faso. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-Policy-Brief-Cinderby-awm-in-nariarle-burkinafaso.pdf

Chicago

de Bruin, Annemarieke, Howard Cambridge, Christian Stein, Korodjouma Ouattara, and Souleymane Paré. Opportunities for Agricultural Water Management interventions in the Nariarlé watershed in Burkina Faso. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2011. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-Policy-Brief-Cinderby-awm-in-nariarle-burkinafaso.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=de Bruin |first1=Annemarieke |last2=Cambridge |first2=Howard |last3=Stein |first3=Christian |last4=Ouattara |first4=Korodjouma |last5=Paré |first5=Souleymane |title=Opportunities for Agricultural Water Management interventions in the Nariarlé watershed in Burkina Faso |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=2011 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-Policy-Brief-Cinderby-awm-in-nariarle-burkinafaso.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{debruin2011opportunities, author = {de Bruin, Annemarieke and Cambridge, Howard and Stein, Christian and Ouattara, Korodjouma and Paré, Souleymane}, title = {{Opportunities for Agricultural Water Management interventions in the Nariarlé watershed in Burkina Faso}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2011}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-Policy-Brief-Cinderby-awm-in-nariarle-burkinafaso.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }