Benin cultivator Janvier R stands in a ricefield in a Smart Valleys benefitting from new irrigation system in Ouinhi.
Ouinhi: Daniel Aboko proudly shows off the 11 hectares of paddy fields he shares with other farmers —a small spread that produces a bounty of food thanks to smart irrigation and a hardy strain of rice.
In just four years, small farmers in Ouinhi, southeastern Benin, have seen their rice harvest double from three to six tonnes of rice per hectare (1.2 to 2.4 tonnes per acre). They produce so much, in fact, that they have created an unusual problem for West Africa: a local glut.
"People come here to ask us questions and they invite me to their fields to train them," beamed Aboko, after parking his motorbike. "It's quite common in Ouinhi," he said.
Some 500 rice growers work in 20 paddy fields in the town of 40,000 people in the hilly, rural department of Zou.
They accepted an invitation from the Africa Rice Centre, or AfricaRice — a not-for-profit research and training centre —to change their irrigation system, and it's worked wonders.
"In 2013, there was a drought but the producers on the pilot sites had rice, while the others didn't," said Sander Zwart, a researcher at AfricaRice.
Specialists in rice breeding and irrigation, AfricaRice has devised a system called Smart-Valleys, in which humid inland valleys — natural catchment areas for rainfall — are scouted out for rice-growing potential.
The project's team then work with local farmers, explaining the benefits of an irrigation system that is cheap and sustainable — provided it is built in the right areas, and used at the right times. But for the change to happen, it needs the farmers' extensive knowledge of the terrain and characteristics of the soil. The work has entailed moving some paddy fields into moist valleys, which are flooded at key times, and tossing out concrete aquaducts, replaced them with earthen embankments forming rows of ditches.
"Rice needs water, but not all the time," explained Aboko, who is president of the Ouinhi cooperative. "With this system, when the time comes to give water, we do so — if we shouldn't, we drain it away. "What you give to the plant, it will give that back to you!"
The aim of the project — also being trialled in neighbouring Togo — is not only to fight against drought but also to better use rainwater, which is often the only source of local irrigation for paddy fields.
"Before, people would choose somewhere and cultivate without thought," said Zwart. "And when there was no water, they couldn't do anything."
Local farmers are involved at every step. "We clear the vegetation with them and they are the ones who design the layout according to the lanes of running water, the slope of the terrain and the size of plots," said Zwart.
