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This article engages the concept of water literacy, coupled with photo-elicitation methods and long-term ethnographic research, to explore how West African farmers judge water sufficiency. The study focuses on the Upper Comoé river basin in southwest Burkina Faso, an area known for conflict among multiple water users. Pictures of familiar river sites were shown to farmers to explore how they determine whether water suffice to meet their irrigation and livelihood needs. The likelihood of finding water to be sufficient was influenced by who the respondents were (gender) and by where (downstream/upstream) and when (early/late dry season) the picture was taken. Farmers' sufficiency judgments were framed as a cognitive and linguistic dichotomy that posits water as being either enough or not enough. They drew upon a diversity of indicators in the natural and built environment and hinged on salient attributes, such as the "face" and the "flow" of the water. These two attributes enabled farmers to determine the water's "force," a foundational cultural notion that blends material and spiritual considerations. Farmers' assessments engage multiple time horizons, from memories of the past, to current observations and anticipated future scenarios. By relying upon shared memories and meanings, farmers can compare judgments, analyze options, and collectively mobilize to counteract the dominance of techno-scientific knowledge in official water allocation decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the unfolding of integrated water resource management ( IWRM) reforms in southwest Burkina Faso, where water resources are subject to conflicting claims by a diversity of users. We first describe the establishment a local water user committee, showing how choices regarding composition and operations grant varying levels of recognition to different stakeholders. We then discuss the implications for key dimensions of decentralized governance, namely representation and accountability. In particular we focus on: (a) how the interplay of political agendas and policy disconnects shapes the committee's viability and credibility and (b) how tensions between techno-scientific and local knowledge affect participation and transparency. We argue that in contexts defined by contentious politics and neo-patrimonial practices, representativeness is better ensured by the direct inclusion of user groups rather than elected officials. Though limited discretionary power, information access, and technical capabilities of committee members inhibit accountability, rural producers uphold their claims through social mobilization and reliance on local knowledge. Recognizing the opportunities offered by the country's recent democratic turn, we formulate recommendations aimed at addressing structural drivers and enabling citizen agency in decentralized water governance. At the same time, further research is needed on local people's understandings of representation and accountability, to ensure that they are involved in institutional design and practices in ways that affirm what they value and what they know. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Sahel region, seasonal predictions are crucial to alleviate the impacts of climate variability on populations' livelihoods. Agricultural planning (e.g., decisions about sowing date, fertilizer application date, and choice of crop or cultivar) is based on empirical predictive indices whose accuracy to date has not been scientifically proven. This paper attempts to statistically test whether the pattern of rainfall distribution over the May-July period contributes to predicting the real onset date and the nature (wet or dry) of the rainy season, as farmers believe. To that end, we considered historical records of daily rainfall from 51 stations spanning the period 1920-2008 and the different agro-climatic zones in Burkina Faso. We performed (1) principal component analysis to identify climatic zones, based on the patterns of intra-seasonal rainfall, (2) and linear discriminant analysis to find the best rainfall-based variables to distinguish between real and false onset dates of the rainy season, and between wet and dry seasons in each climatic zone. A total of nine climatic zones were identified in each of which, based on rainfall records from May to July, we derived linear discriminant functions to correctly predict the nature of a potential onset date of the rainy season (real or false) and that of the rainy season (dry or wet) in at least three cases out of five. These functions should contribute to alleviating the negative impacts of climate variability in the different climatic zones of Burkina Faso. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In sub-Saharan Africa, with its high rainfall variability and limited irrigation options, the crop planting date is a crucial tactical decision for farmers and therefore a major concern in agricultural decision making. To support decision making in rainfed agriculture, a new approach has been developed to optimize crop planting date. The General Large-Area Model for Annual Crops (GLAM) has been used for the first time to simulate maize yields in West Africa. It is used in combination with fuzzy logic rules to give more flexibility in crop planting date computation when compared with binary logic methods. A genetic algorithm is applied to calibrate the crop model and to optimize the planting dates at the end. The process for optimizing planting dates results in an ensemble of optimized planting rules. This principle of ensemble members leads to a time window of optimized planting dates for a single year and thereby potentially increases the willingness of farmers to adopt this approach. The optimized planting date (OPD) approach is compared with two well-established methods in sub-Saharan Africa. The results suggest earlier planting dates across Burkina Faso, ranging from 10 to 20 days for the northern and central part and less than 10 days for the southern part. With respect to the potential yields, the OPD approach indicates that an average increase in maize potential yield of around 20% could be obtained in water-limited regions in Burkina Faso. The implementation of the presented approach in agricultural decision support is expected to have the potential to improve agricultural risk management in these regions dominated by rainfed agriculture and characterized by high rainfall variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares responses to seasonal climate forecasts conducted by farmers of three agro-ecological zones of Burkina Faso, including some who had attended local level workshops and others who had not attended the workshops. While local inequalities and social tensions contributed to excluding some groups, about two-thirds of non-participants interviewed received the forecast from the participants or through various means deployed by the project. Interviews revealed that almost all those who received the forecasts by some mechanism (workshop or other) shared them with others. The data show that participants were more likely to understand the probabilistic aspect of the forecasts and their limitations, to use the information in making management decisions and by a wider range of responses. These differences are shown to be statistically significant. Farmers evaluated the forecasts as accurate and useful in terms of both material and non-material considerations. These findings support the hypothesis that participatory workshops can play a positive role in the provision of effective climate services to African rural producers. However, this role must be assessed in the context of local dynamics of power, which shape information flows and response options. Participation must also be understood beyond single events (such as workshops) and be grounded in sustained interaction and commitments among stakeholders. The conclusion of this study point to lessons learned and critical insights on the role of participation in climate-based decision support systems for rural African communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A network of reservoirs and diversion structures in the Comoé River Basin in southwestern Burkina Faso, West Africa, provides municipal water supply and irrigation for sugarcane agribusiness and downstream farmers. The region is characterized by severe intraseasonal and inter-annual variability of precipitation and reservoir inflows. Reservoir operations are generally conservative, even during relatively wet years. A stochastic decision support tool (DST) is described which translates a scenario-tree of streamflow and precipitation forecasts, conditionally weighted by a tercile seasonal precipitation forecast, into optimal release schedules for the upcoming year. It is shown that the DST coupled with the seasonal precipitation forecasts may provide more efficient and equitable release decisions that benefit the variety of stakeholders in the basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]