Inland valleys suit rice because water collects there, and that same water makes them hard to manage: a bund or outlet that helps one plot can change drainage on the next, and better water control can raise the value of land. A new twelve-step framework under the CGIAR Climate Action programme sets out how farmers and other valley users plan water control together before anything is built.
The framework draws on work with 1,789 participants across 218 inland valleys in Mali, Niger and Nigeria, and on two decades of Smart Valleys research led by AfricaRice and its partners. Farmers, livestock keepers, processors, traders, landowners and tenants take part, with women and young people in the same discussions.
Before bunds, canals, inlets or outlets are laid out, participants map how water moves through the valley and who has claims over the land it crosses, and weigh these against climate risks and competing claims. Proposed structures are then marked with colour-coded pegs, local users organise construction, and layouts are adjusted as experience shows where water collects, drains well or causes trouble. Users also agree rules for the works and who builds and maintains them.
Arrangements differ by country. In Mali, 13 cooperatives link farmers with processors and traders. In Niger, women make up just over half of valley users and play a central role in governance. In the more commercial Nigerian valleys, where women are less involved in field-level rice farming, processing and trade are their entry points. User committees work with local authorities, and multi-stakeholder Living Labs connect them to national and regional actors.
The production case is established: research across seven West African countries found rice yields in developed valleys rose on average from 2.5 to 4.8 tonnes per hectare. But not every valley is suitable, adoption depends on soil, drainage, labour, tenure, markets and farmer organisations, and Smart Valleys gives partial, adaptive water control rather than full irrigation.
The new framework still has to prove itself. Plans have been drawn up and implementation is beginning at selected sites. None of the three Living Labs included a bank, microfinance provider, insurer or blended-finance provider when the framework report was completed, and the researchers say success should be judged not only by yields and valleys reached but by who participates, whose proposals shape the design and how benefits are shared.
Photo: AfricaRice
Source: CGIAR
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