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BURKINA FASO, previously Upper Volta, is a landlocked country bordered by Benin, Côte d' Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, and Togo. Its 11.6 million people (in 1999) live in an area totaling 274,000 km2, making it one of the most densely populated countries in the Sahel. The land consists of rolling plains dissected by valleys formed by upper reaches of the Volta River. Agriculture, mainly at a subsistence level, makes up almost the entire GDP, although only about 13% of the land is arable. Further, substantial desertification has occurred as a result of previous inappropriate farming techniques used for peanuts and cotton for export. Deforestation has also been rampant, resulting in a lack of fuel wood.
General information - GNI per capita PPP$, 2000: 970
- Internal renewable water resources: 17.5 km3
- Main food consumed: millet and sorghum, maize, nuts, oil and fat, meat
- Rice consumption, 1999: 18.5 kg milled rice per person per year
Production constraints
Rice yield has stagnated since 1995. In some irrigated areas, a yield decrease has been reported. The following are the major constraints to sustainable rice production in Burkina Faso: - Drought in upland areas and drought and flash floods in rainfed lowland (or inland swamp) areas because of irregular weather
- Heat-induced sterility during the off-season in irrigated areas
- Cold-induced sterility in December
- Dominant use of NPK fertilizer formulated for cotton and not adapted to the rice crop
- Inadequate and irregular input supplies: seeds, fertilizer, and credit
- Lack of small farm equipment, especially for postharvest operations
- Lack of effective farmer organizations and cooperatives
- Poor maintenance of irrigation facilities
- Lack of a well-defined rice policy
- Poor road networks and marketing systems
- Labor shortage because of competition from other agricultural activities
- Weak research and extension support
Production season | | | | Planting | Harvesting |
Main season
| May-Jun | Oct-Nov | Off-season | Jan-Feb | May-Jun | Basic statistics, Burkina Faso |
| 1985 | 1990 | 1995 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | Rice | Area harvested (ha) | 27,741 | 23,000 | 40,000 | 45,904 | 46,000 | 46,000 | Yield (t/ha) | 1.8 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 1.9 | Production (t) | 50,334 | 47,800 | 84,025 | 88,998 | 88,000 | 88,000 | Rice imports (t) | 104,022 | 69,654 | 62,300 | 107,972 | 107,972 | na | Others | Population, total (x103 ) | 7,879 | 9,060 | 10,415 | 11,305 | 11,616 | na | Population, agriculture (x103 ) | 7,271 | 8,370 | 9,612 | 10,428 | 10,713 | na | Agricultural area (x103 ha) | 9,035 | 9,575 | 9,450 | 9,450 | na | na | Irrigated agricultural area (x103 ha) | 12 | 20 | 25 | 25 | na | na | Total fertilizer consumption (t) | 12,136 | 21,166 | 24,308 | 50,232 | na | na | Tractors used in agric. (no.) | 120 | 840 | 1,933 | 1,993 | na | na | Source: FAOSTAT online database. | Click here for a pdf of this information
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