Resilience of smallholder farmers in their ability to bounce-back and overcome shocks, such as drought, is critical to ensure a pathway out of hunger and poverty. Efficient water conservation methods that increase rainwater capture and reduce soil erosion such as stone lines and grass bands are two technologies that have been proposed to increase the resilience in Sudano–Sahelian farming systems. In Burkina Faso, we show that stone lines, grass bands, and crop rotation are effective resilience strategies individually and in combination. During years when rainfall is well-distributed over time, differences are minimal between fields with water conservation methods and fields without. However, when there are periods of prolonged drought, water conservation methods are effective for increasing soil water, yield, revenue, and resilience. During drought conditions, sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) grain yield and revenue with stone lines and grass bands were over 50% greater than that of the control, by an average of 450 kg ha−1, which amounted to an increase of 58,500 West African CFA franc (CFA) ha−1 (i.e., 98 USD ha−1). The results also suggest that the combination of water conservation method and crop rotation additionally improves cropping system productivity and revenue. Growing cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) in rotation with sorghum production provided more options for farmers to increase their income and access to nutrition. This study also sheds light on the limited productivity gains due to improved crop varieties. The local sorghum landrace, Nongomsoba, and the local cowpea variety in rotation resulted in the highest yields as compared to the improved varieties of Sariaso 14 sorghum and KVX 396-4-4 cowpea. Under similar low input/degraded conditions, improved crop varieties likely are not a suitable resilience strategy alone. We conclude that during erratic rainy seasons with frequent periods of drought (i.e., water stress) in rain-fed conditions in Burkina Faso, stone lines or grass bands in combination with sorghum and cowpea rotation are effective practices for increasing resilience of smallholder farmers to maintain crop productivity and revenue. With future and present increases in climate variability due to climate change, stone lines, grass bands, and crop rotation will have growing importance as resilience strategies to buffer crop productivity and revenue during periods of drought.

中文翻译：

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提高布基纳法索生产力和经济弹性的节水方法和种植系统

小农恢复和克服干旱等冲击的能力对于确保摆脱饥饿和贫困至关重要。增加雨水收集和减少土壤侵蚀的有效节水方法（如石线和草带）是已被提议用于提高苏丹-萨赫勒农业系统恢复力的两项技术。在布基纳法索，我们表明石纹、草带和轮作是单独和组合的有效复原策略。在降雨量随时间均匀分布的年份中，采用节水方法的田地和没有节水方法的田地之间的差异很小。然而，当出现长期干旱时，节水方法对于增加土壤水分、产量、收入和恢复力是有效的。在干旱条件下，高粱（Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench）带石纹和草带的籽粒产量和收益比对照高50%以上，平均增加450 kg ha−1，相当于增加了58,500 西非非洲金融共同体法郎 (CFA) ha-1（即 98 美元 ha-1）。结果还表明，节水方法和作物轮作的结合进一步提高了种植系统的生产力和收入。与高粱生产轮流种植豇豆（Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.）为农民增加收入和获得营养提供了更多选择。这项研究还揭示了由于改良作物品种而导致的生产力增长有限。当地的高粱地方品种 Nongomsoba，与 Sariaso 14 高粱和 KVX 396-4-4 豇豆改良品种相比，当地轮作豇豆品种的产量最高。在类似的低投入/退化条件下，改良的作物品种可能并不是一个合适的复原策略。我们得出的结论是，在布基纳法索的雨养条件下，在频繁发生干旱（即缺水）的不稳定雨季期间，石线或草带结合高粱和豇豆轮作是提高小农恢复力的有效做法，以维持作物生产力和收入。随着未来和现在气候变化导致的气候变异性增加，石纹、草带和作物轮作作为在干旱期间缓冲作物生产力和收入的弹性策略将变得越来越重要。