PERCEPTIONS ET STRATEGIES PAYSANNES DE GESTION DE LA FERTILITE DES SOLS DANS LA REGION DE TILLABERY DE LOUEST DU NIGER

Farms face declining soil fertility. Maintaining this fertility becomes a concern for famers who adopt several strategies to this end. Hence, it is important to know these strategies to better improve and value them. It is in this context that a study was carried out in 15 villages within three municipalities of Tillabery region in Niger. Its objective is to study farmers soil fertility management perceptions and strategies in the municipalities of Gotheye, Tagazar and Torodi. Data collection was carried out through individual surveys of 300 farm managers, with 20 per village, or 100 per municipality. The respondents are mainly illiterate (56%) with agriculture (82%) and house farming (88%) as main activities. They said the soils are poor. Their indicators are soil color (40%), good germination (24%), yield (23%), and soil poorness indicator species (13%). To overcome this, farmers use more manure which is managed sparingly. However, the fallow, neglected by the majority of farmers, lasts only 2 or 3 years. The promotion of integrated soil fertility management through ANR, the use of manures and degraded lands restoration techniques are necessary for the sustainability and improvement of production systems.