The date palm ( Phoenix dactylifera L.), a dioecious species, is of particular interest in the Sahel due to its phenological plasticity in relation to climate change and its double-flowering capacity. This article explores local practices and knowledge associated with date palm cultivation in the oasis basins of southeastern Niger, and provides an inventory of local seed propagated varieties, for more effectively guiding agricultural research and the breeding of this species. We carried out a survey of 30 date palm growers in 14 villages of the Manga region. The qualitative data of the survey were processed by a Multiple Correspondence Analysis. We inventoried 19 date palm varieties, for which the main distinctive criterion was fruit colour, but some other criteria such as biology or provenance were also used. The cultural practices and knowledge associated with the date palm in Manga have improved since the 1990s. They also depend on ethnic groups and the importance they assign to farming compared to livestock rearing and trading activities. The type of basin (high, intermediate, or low water table) influences growers’ practices and perceptions. Lastly, the date harvest in the wet season is abundant, but of mediocre quality, whereas it is the opposite for the dry season harvest. To conclude, sustainable development of date palm cultivation in the Sahel zone relies firstly on the selection of varieties that are early fruit producers or that can complete fruit maturation during the raining season and secondly on technical capacity building for producers.
The Sahel (a semi-arid zone) is acknowledged to be a climate change hot spot with great social and environmental vulnerability [
The date palm is a multi-purpose plant [
In Niger, the date palm is cultivated in two zones, one traditional in the Sahara and the other more marginal in the Sahel. The traditional zone stretches to the North, to Mount Aïr and into the Ingal valley, and to the Northeast, in the Bilma region on the Djado plateau, Kawar and Agram. The marginal Sahel zone, to the Southeast, covers Damagaran (Zinder region) and Manga (Diffa region; [
Better knowledge of local varietal diversity of the date palm in southeastern Niger and of the associated local knowledge would make it possible to more effectively guide agricultural research requirements on this species with high phenological plasticity, in view of the consequences of climate change for the Sahel. Indeed, in order to reduce the damage caused by the early onset of rainfall and improve the commercial value and storage quality of dates, it might be worth promoting seed propagated varieties that start bearing early, or can complete fruit maturation during the raining season, or focusing on the first harvest. However, these seed propagated varieties had not been inventoried; nor had the associated knowledge and farming practices. It was in order to fill that gap in the inventory that we investigated these local practices and knowledge and we inventoried the date palm seed propagated varieties in the oasis basins of the Manga region in southeastern Niger. The study was completed by looking at the use made of income generated by this crop.
Our study was undertaken from May to November 2014 in southeastern Niger, in the two departments of the Manga region (latitude 13˚20'N to 13˚55'N; longitude 9˚50'E to 11˚50'E): Gouré and Goudoumaria (
The climate in Manga is Sahelian, with average annual rainfall of 329 mm (average over 74 years from 1939 to 2013) distributed in a single rainy season from June to September, and August is the wettest month (
The relief comprises a sandy plateau from 300 to 400 m above sea level, whose upper areas correspond to the rims of shifting sand dunes. The plateau is peppered with basins and lowlands which would seem to derive from the flow network of temporary water courses, once tributaries of Lake Chad. The basins, small oasis depressions around 10 m in depth, are home to date palms. These basins have three types of hydrological regime in the lowest central section [
During the long dry season (8 - 9 months,
In almost 400 basins with date palms inventoried by Lenormand (1984) [
Dates develop in five stages: “Hababouk”, end of fruit-set when the small fruit is still with its calyx; “Kimri”, from the small fruit stage up to green fruit growth; “Khalal”, physiologically ripe and sweet fruit, which turns from green in colour to yellow or red; “Rutab”, a fruit whose apex starts to turn from yellow or red to brown or black; “Tamar”, a completely ripe fruit whose colour turns from yellow or red to brown or
black [
artificial pollination, thinning of bunches or spikelets, and protection of bunches from pests (insects, birds, mammals; [
Our survey covered 14 villages (i.e. around 10% of the villages in the two departments;
We carried out 30 interviews (on 30 farms) among the date farmers, with an interview corresponding to a meeting with one person or a group of 3 to 6 people. The interview was conducted in the field, in the plots containing the palms, or in the village. The information gathered in each interview was as follows: identity of the basin or village, identity of the producer, date palm seed propagated varieties, cultural practices, date production, the use made of income derived from dates.
The qualitative data (
The first two dimensions of the Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) absorbed
Variable code | Variable name | Modalities |
---|---|---|
P1 | Department | Gouré, Goudoumaria |
P2 | Municipality | Gouré, Bouné, Guidiguire, Goudoumaria |
P3 | Type of basin | HWTB, IWTB, DWTB |
P4 | Ethnic group | Hausa, Kanuri, Fulani |
P5 | Seed propagated variety distinction criteria | Fruit colour, plant biology, fruit quality, fruit quality and colour, fruit colour and biology of the plant |
P6 | Propagation method | Naturally sown, semi-natural plantation of suckers |
P7 | Pruning period | Harvest, rest period, harvest and rest period |
P8 | Pollination | Yes, no |
P9 | Inflorescence thinning | Yes, no |
P10 | Type of organ removed | A few spikelets, a few inflorescences, nothing |
P11 | Reason for thinning | Quality, weight reduction, none |
P12 | Date production (kg/palm/season) | 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250 |
P13 | Use made of income | Food, food and clothing, food and field work |
P14 | Type of protection against pests | Inflorescence covering, none |
Type of basin: HWTB, High Water
32% of the variation out of the 30 dimensions of the MCA (
Dimension 1 compared the department of Gouré to the department of Goudoumaria (
date sales served solely to buy food and clothing in Goudoumaria, while it was also used to buy livestock and to hire farmer labourers in Gouré (
Dimension 2 compared the intermediate water table basins to the other basins with a high or deep water table (
Lastly, the sex ratio (number of male palms compared to the number of female palms) was 32% in all the basins visited. The farmers had two ways of recognising the sex of the date palm, one by the seeds and one by the seedlings. Any seed with a curved shape, pointed tips and a generally rough appearance would give a female plant and, conversely, any straight seed with a generally smooth appearance would give a male plant (
According to the farmers in Manga, rainfed cereal production outside the basins (millet and sorghum, dietary staples in Manga), only covered 4 months of family food requirements on average. To complete those harvests, date palms were usually intercropped with fruit, cereals and market garden crops, giving rise to palm groves organized
in 4 strata (
・ upper stratum: date palms sometimes with doum palms;
・ 2nd stratum, fruit crops: mango, guava, moringa, lemon, baobab, jujube, pawpaw, orange, banana, tamarind;
・ 1st stratum: cereals (maize, wheat and sorghum), sugarcane, cassava;
・ soil level, market garden crops: cabbage, onion, lettuce, carrot, tomato, potato, chilli pepper, bell pepper, melon, watermelon, squash, sweet potato, aubergine, sorrel, okra.
In this cropping system, the date palms benefited from protection (fencing), irrigation water and the fertilizers applied to the market garden crops in all the groves. On the other hand, when they were in plots without market garden crops, no irrigation or fertilization was provided. In that case, they took up water from the water table and their fertilization came from animals roaming in the basin. In all the basins investigated, the depth of the water table was less than 5 m, Nevertheless, according to the farmers, the date palms competed with the market garden crops and the shade of the palms prevented those crops from growing well.
We inventoried 19 date palm seed propagated varieties in Manga (
Seed propagated variety name | Distinctive criteria | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Hausa name | Kanuri name | Fruit colour at “Khalal” stage | Distinction criterion | Characteristics |
Balma | Yellow | Origin of sown seed | From Bilma, dry date, large fruit, good commercial quality | |
Maywa, Maiduhuduhu | Crikiji | Greenish brown | Fruit colour at “Khalal” stage | Greenish brown when ripe, sweet, average commercial quality |
Ja | Kime | Red | Fruit colour at “Khalal” stage | Average physical appearance, poor commercial quality |
Magaja | Red | Fruit colour at “Khalal” stage | Fruit less sweet, rarely fully ripens, mediocre commercial quality | |
Baki | Tiloum | Dark red | Fruit colour at “Khalal” stage | Red becoming black on ripening, sweet, poor commercial quality |
Ja maihaske | Soumala | Bright red | Fruit colour at “Khalal” stage | Good flavour, average commercial quality |
Massara, Kouran jaki | Walé | Bright yellow | Fruit colour at “Khalal” stage | Good flavour, dry date, good commercial quality |
Farin | Boule | Pale yellow | Fruit colour at “Khalal” stage | Pale date, average sized date, high commercial quality |
Massara maiduhu | Dark yellow | Fruit colour at “Khalal” stage | Good flavour, average commercial quality | |
Cala biyu | Grey at base and yellow at tip | Fruit colour at “Khalal” stage | Grey at beginning, yellow at end, good flavour, poor commercial quality | |
Dan Agadez | Yellow | Origin of sown seed | From Agadez, dry date of good commercial quality | |
Namiji | ------ | Male sex | Male, rarely produces fruits | |
Maga | Yellow | Fruit quality | Rarely fully ripens, poor commercial quality | |
Dan macka | Yellow | Origin of sown seed | From Mecca, average sized fruit, average commercial quality | |
Dan tunus | Yellow | Origin of sown seed | From Tunisia, large fruit, good commercial value | |
Zinime | Yellow or red | Fruit quality | Very small fruit, never fully ripening | |
Kitila | Yellow | Fruit quality | Large sweet fruit, less astringent and consumable unripe (“Kimiri” stage) | |
Bordol | Yellow | Fruit quality | Large fruits of high commercial value | |
Garouda | Yellow | Phenology of the species | Less susceptible to relative humidity, moderately sweet, good commercial value |
The same seed propagated variety could have two synonymous names in the same language, “Massara” or “Kouranjaki”, or in different languages, “Massara” and “Wale”. It might also have only one name in one language without a synonym in another, “Balma” and “Zinzime” (
Of the 19 seed propagated varieties in Manga, 12 had yellow fruits, 4 had red fruits, 1 had greenish brown fruits and 1 other had fruits that were grey at the base and yellow towards the tip (
The “Kitila” seed propagated variety produced dates mostly for home consumption. It was the only seed propagated variety whose fruits could be consumed in their unripe stage in full growth before the “Khalal” stage, whereas all the others produced dates that were indigestible at that stage due to the amount of tannin they contained. The “Garouda” seed propagated variety was the only one to produce fruits that fully ripened, i.e. dry on the palm, whatever the rainfall. Despite its average sugar content, the “Garouda” date had a good commercial value during the rainy season because dry dates are rare. To obtain dry dates from the other seed propagated varieties, the farmers cut bunches between the “Khalal” and “Rutab” stages and dried them under thatch shelters where they were hung from the roof, protected from rain, until fully ripe.
On average, 4 seed propagated varieties were grown per village or per basin (
In Manga, the “Farin” seed propagated variety produced the dates most appreciated by the farmers. The “Massara” and “Balma” seed propagated varieties in some basins of
Village | Basin type | Ethnic group | Number of seed propagated varieties | Most appreciated seed propagated variety |
---|---|---|---|---|
Department of Goudoumaria | ||||
Kodjimiri | IWTB | Kanuri | 5: Ja, Farin, Massara, Maiduhuduhu, Baki | Farin |
N'Gario | IWTB | Kanuri | 5: Ja, Farin, Maiduhuduhu, Baki, Ja-maihaske, | Farin |
Balkessa | HWTB | Kanuri | 2: Ja, Farin | Farin |
Fadjimiram | DWTB | Kanuri | 2: Garouda, Massara | Garouda |
Fanna Malouram | DWTB | Kanuri | 3: Bordol, Ja-maihaske, Maga | Bordol |
Madoukoiri | IWTB | Kanuri | 2: Ja, Farin | Farin |
Department of Gouré | ||||
Toumourwa | DWTB | Kanuri | 4: Massara, Maiduhuduhu, Ja, Baki | Massara |
Isgour | HWTB | Kanuri | 5: Ja, Balma, Zinzime, Cala biyu, Dan Agadez | Balma |
Kilakina | IWTB | Hausa + Kanuri | 5: Ja, Massara, Maiduhuduhu, Massara-maiduhu, Dan Macka | Massara |
N'Guelkelia | IWTB | Fulani | 5: Ja, Farin, Baki, Massara, Massara-maiduhu | Farin |
Balla | DWTB | Kanuri | 4: Ja, Maywa, Farin, Magaja | Farin |
Koublé Yalam | DWTB | Fulani | 1: Massara | Massara |
Borno issim | HWTB | Fulani | 3: Balma, Massara, Ja | Balma |
Bassori | IWTB | Kanuri | 2:Ja, Massara | Massara |
Basin types: HWTB, high water table basin, IWTB, intermediate water table basin, DWTB, deep water table basin.
the Gouré department, and the “Garouda” and “Bordol” seed propagated varieties in Goudoumaria, produced dates that were also appreciated (
The first production season, from September to March (
The second season, from February to July (
Only 20% of date production was consumed on-farm, and 80% went for sale on the local market and in neighbouring Nigeria.
In 2014-2015, on the Boutti local market, the average sale price for a kilo of dry dates was 1060 FCFA (? 1.60) for the first season and 485 FCFA for the second season (
The low price of dates from the second season (rainy season) was due to their poor quality. On the one hand, the dates did not fully ripen (they remained at the “Khalal” stage) and, on the other hand, the harvest was completed very quickly, in under two weeks, just after the first rainfall. In addition, they were marketed directly, as storage
facilities were insufficient. Conversely, the first season (dry season), with less than half of the palms bearing, was more profitable as the dates fully ripened and were sold at twice the price of dried dates from the rainy season.
Our results showed that 19 date palm seed propagated varieties existed in 2014 in the Manga region of southeastern Niger, whereas the scarce literature on the subject reports far fewer. Indeed, Jahiel and Candelier (1991) only inventoried 3, of which 2 names “Kime” and “Wale” were included in the names we found. A slight contradiction linked to language can be highlighted: unlike what Jahiel and Candelier (1991) stated, the colour “Kimé” in Kanuri means red not yellow, and the colour “Walé” means yellow not red. Abdoussalam and Pasternak (2015) reported six varieties, of which three names “Maiwa”, “Ja”, “Farin” were included in our inventory, but these six varieties are probably relative to another region close to Manga, the Damagaram region.
Based on the commercial value of the dates, our results revealed that some seed propagated varieties are more appreciated than others. For instance, it may be that a seed propagated variety selection process has taken place, when compared to what was reported by Lenormand (1984) and Jahiel (1989) who described pseudo-date palm cultivation and use of the date palm to secure land tenure. The distinction between male and female seeds, or between male and female seedlings, confirms today the awareness of farmers in the Manga region since the 1970s of the merits of date palm growing reported by Jahiel (1996).
The names of the seed propagated varieties that we identified differed from those inventoried by Abdoussalam and Pasternak (2015) in the traditional date production zone in the North of Niger (Bilma, Air, Kawar and Djado) although the languages spoken in the two regions are similar. However, the average number of four seed propagated varieties per basin in the Manga region was lower than that reported by Abdoussalam and Pasternak (2015) in northern Niger, i.e. 7 seed propagated varieties in the Mont Aïr oasis, 13 at Ingall and 10 at Bilma. This difference might be explained by the size of the basin comparatively to that of an oasis. All the seed propagated variety names also differed from the names of the Tunisian, Algerian or Moroccan varieties [
Two of the results, farming practices and the used made of income, could be explained by the positions held by the different ethnic groups in the Manga region of southeastern Niger. On the one hand, farmers in the department of Goudoumaria (Kanuri ethnic group) had a better command of certain cultural practices, notably bunch thinning, hand pollination, palm pruning and inflorescence covering than those in Gouré (Kanuri, Fulani and Hausa ethnic groups). These practices are described in the literature as good practices leading to better quality dates [
In fact, the Kanuri, who are agropastoralists [
We found an improvement in the sex ratio, since it is 32% today whereas it was 50% in the 1990s [
Farmers had a particular perception of the consequences of the water requirements of date palms in relation to the hydrological regime of the basin. The farmers in high water table basins, like those in the deep water table basins, did not wish to increase their date palm stand, as they felt that date palms were the main reason for the drop in the water table. For them, the current intermediate water table basins were formerly high water table basins: when the date palm was introduced in those basins, its great evapotranspiration rate [
The biology or seed provenance criterion used in distinguishing seed propagated varieties in addition to fruit colour in the high and deep water table basins in no way means that date cultivation practices are better mastered in those basins than in the intermediate water table basins. This is explained by the fact that when farmers in those basins wished to replace a dead palm (rare operation), they often sowed seeds whose fruits they appreciated, found on the market, while regeneration in the intermediate water table basins only involved seeds from the basin in question.
Our results confirmed the two production seasons, as mentioned by Jahiel and Fortin (1990) in the same region, Munier (1963) [
In 2014-2015, the numbers of inflorescences were identical to those found by Jahiel and Fortin (1990), i.e. 6 inflorescences per palm in the first season and 12 in the second season. Despite the decrease in rainfall since the 1970s [
Date production per palm was six-fold higher in the second season (but with mediocre quality), than in the first season (where quality was better). In addition, the proportion of bearing palms was twice as high in the second season. Consequently, most of the dates in Manga were sold at a paltry price when compared to dates from Bilma (northern Niger), Algeria or Libya. This sale price was linked to a lack of ripeness and poor storage quality. Nevertheless, the high price of dry dates from the first season suggests that the seed propagated varieties in Manga generally produce dates that are much appreciated by the population. The problem to be solved is storage difficulties, for which the solution would seem to lie in breeding varieties that start bearing early or are more humidity-tolerant during ripening, like the “Garouda” seed propagated variety grown in just one of the surveyed villages (the Kanuri village of Fadjimiram, in the department of Goudoumaria). This selection, combined with technical capacity building for farmers, would help to improve the self-subsistence of the local populations, along with their incomes, through the existence of greater competitiveness on the local and regional markets.
Our results did not enable us to decide which was the most profitable season as the volume of dry dates in the second season remained very difficult to evaluate. It depended on the early onset (or not) of the rainy season.
This article describes an original investigation of the local practices and knowledge associated with date palms in the oasis basins of the Manga region in southeastern Niger, along with the inventory of 19 local seed propagated varieties. Today, date palm growing is increasingly considered by farmers as a major source of income, even though there is water competition between this culture and market garden crops growing under palm trees. The other constraint arising is poor date quality in the rainy season, whereas that season is more productive by far than the dry season. Research and sustainable development of date palm cultivation in Sahel, taking into account adaptation to climate change, must rely on date palm improvement in relation with early-produc- tion and humidity-tolerant during maturation fruits.
This work was supported by the International Foundation of Science (IFS, grant number D/5695-1; 2014), French embassy in Niger (scholarship) and CIRAD (grant number AI N˚1-2014). We thank Mr. Baaré Amadou Chefou executive Secretary of the karkara NGO; Garkoua Sayédi, Director of Hydraulics in Magaria and Col. Hamza Barmou, Director of the Environment, in Gouré, for their logistical support. We also thank Marie Puchon (Karkara NGO Diffa coordinator), Mamane Moussa (Karkara NGO Zinder coordinator), Pr. J. M. Ambouta Karimoune (FA/UAM); Dr Didier Tijani (FA/ UAM) and Elhdj Idi (the village chief of Kilakina).
Zango, O., Rey, H., Bakasso, Y., Lecoustre, R., Aberlenc, F. and Pintaud, J.-C. (2016) Local Practices and Knowledge Associated with Date Palm Cultivation in Southeastern Niger. Agricultural Sciences, 7, 586-603. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/as.2016.79056