Abstract

Agricultural production in Burkina Faso is low partly because of low and irregular rainfall, but also because of poor soil fertility. This low soil fertility, linked to the nature of the soils, which are generally ferric lixisol, is exacerbated by the fact that farmers add very little or no fertilizer to their plots. The solution of micro dosing granulated fertilizer was beneficial for producers but the time taken for its manual application was an obstacle to its dissemination. The animal traction micro dose fertilizer applicator is evaluated at the Saria station to determine its effectiveness. The crop is sorghum and three treatments are compared: Manual micro dose application of NPK granular fertilizer; mechanized application of the micro dose of granular NPK fertilizer and of the conventional dose of granulated NPK fertilizer. The experimental design was a randomized blocs on three-replication. The labor times and the grain and straw yield of the sorghum are measured. The analysis of variance and the comparison test performed make it possible to distinguish the production of plots of micro dose 588kgha-1 (manual or mechanized) from that of the conventional dose of 751kg.ha-1. The cost calculation of the practice used in the plots shows that the working time for the mechanized practice is 7h.ha-1 while the manual practice of the application of fertilizer is 27h.ha-1. The consequence is that for the costs invested in technology yield 4.1. The franc invested in the manual practice of the micro dose brings only 2.0 francs and for the conventional method 2.6. The promotion of the micro dose fertilizer applicator therefore appears useful in improving productivity in a Sahelian country such as Burkina Faso.

Keywords: Agricultural mechanization; Manual fertilizer application; Micro dose applicator; Sorghum; Labor cost; Burkina Faso