Cover_Rebuilding West Africas Food Potential

456 Rebuilding West Africa’s food potential

3. Maize value chain: status, constraints, and opportunities

3.1 Production

Maize is produced in much of West and Central Africa covering areas ranging from semi-arid Sahelo-

Sudanian agroecological zones to sub-humid tropical areas. In Burkina Faso, maize is located in the cotton-

cereal production basin of Burkina Faso. Maize is typically tied to cotton through rotations. In addition, maize

also shares inputs (notably fertilizer) that provided on credit for cotton use. Besides maize, cotton is also

grown in rotations with sorghum, niebe, sesame and peanuts. But maize remain the preferred staple food

crop of choice in cotton growing areas whenever the agronomic conditions are favorables.

As long as cotton is profitable in the market, the cotton-maize rotation bring ssveral agronomic

benefits and market complementarities. For one thing, cotton-maize rotation improves soil fertility.

The use of animal traction in cotton systems ensure a supply of manure which improves soil fertility.

Also rotation allow a better labor allocation between crops. Cotton needs early soil preparation and

input applications while cereals require most of the labour force later in the humid season. The same

applies to the labour management during harvest (i.e. cotton has an earlier harvest than cereals and

other field crops).

Figure 3. Juxtaposition of cotton and maize production areas in West and Central Africa

Source: Sahel and West African Club (2004), Atlas de l’Afrique (2000) and FAO (2004)

While sorghum remains the number one crop in Burkina Faso, maize has grown the most with a four-

fold increase in the past 15 years (see figure 4).