Evaluation of the agricultural mechanization of cotton growers in the south sudanese zone of Burkina Faso

In the search for diversification of income sources and in order to reduce their tasks, producers have adopted agricultural mechanization in cotton production in the western cotton zone. Despite the growing interest of producers for this crop, few results exist on agricultural mechanization as practiced by producers in order to sustain the activity. The present study aims to know the agricultural production equipment in order to ensure the sustainability of the production systems in Burkina Faso. For this purpose, surveys have been carried out on farms of 90 farmers to contribute to a better knowledge of agricultural production equipment. The results of our work have shown that agricultural equipment varies according to the financial availability and the knowledge that the producer has of the crop. Agricultural equipment is adopted and used by producers in cotton growing. The use of these agricultural equipment depends on the activities on the cotton farms. The integration between these two fields of activity is perceptible on the sites of Tondogosso, Baré, Kari, Dohoun, Guéna and Sidi. Thus, 100% of well-equipped farm households use animal traction in soil preparation, crop maintenance and transport operations. On the other hand, no producer (0%) owns a mechanical seeder. The sustainability of the culture requires the establishment of an adequate system of supervision on culture, access to agricultural mechanization and equipment typical for cotton farming. Further studies are needed to provide accessible and inexpensive agricultural technologies to cotton growers.