Determinants of the Availability of Adequate Millet Stover for Mulching in the Sahel

Millet and sorghum stover protect intensively cultivated soils from rapid degradation and promote sustained productivity. Quantities of stover found on farms in the Sahel are mostly inadequate for effective mulching. Surveys conducted in western Niger revealed that the inadequacy of stover for mulching is principally due to the low millet stover yields, particularly in drier areas of the Sahel. The application of P fertilizer represents a feasible option for increasing stover yields. Also, evidence of historical relationships between yearly amounts of stover remaining on farms suggests the possibility of gradual build-up of stover for mulching on farms. Other important determinants of observed level of millet stover are: distance of farms from household compounds, differences in crop production potentials, cropping practice, and interactions between amounts of previous stover, cropping practice and crop production potentials