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Utilisation du diagnostic hydrique pour le pilotage de l’irrigation de la canne à sucre en Côte d’Ivoire Volume 7, issue 4, Décembre 1996

Authors
IDESSA-DCI/Filière canne à sucre, Opération hydraulique agricole, 01 BP 633, Bouaké 01, Côte d’Ivoire, Sodesucre-Ferké 2/Division études agronomiques, BP 731, Korhogo, Côte d’Ivoire
  • Page(s) : 299-306
  • Published in: 1996

Although Sodesucre has heavily invested in irrigation over the last 10 years, crop yields on sugar complexes are still highly dependent on yearly rainfall variations. Good irrigation management practices were thus required to make the investment more profitable. The present study analyses yield responses of sugarcane to irrigation over the 1993-94 and 1994-95 cropping seasons at the Ferké 2 sugar complex in northern Côte d’Ivoire. Although total rainfall was lower in 1993-94, better yields were recorded than in the following year as a result of sufficient and well-distributed rainfall over the critical period for crop water requirements, i.e. from March to July. This shows that, despite irrigation, sugarcane yields are dependent on rainfall patterns throughout the critical period. In order to prevent yearly crop yield fluctuations, it is recommended to emphasize irrigation from March to July and apply a deficit watering strategy on early-season cane crops at the tillering stage for the benefit of preharvest irrigation and late-season crops. This is necessary for better irrigation management at the field level as well as meeting crop water requirements.