Abstract:
This paper presents data collected in 2013, 2014 and 2015 on the
cultural practices and agronomic performance of cropping systems
in 500 lowland rice fields located in five regions of three West
African countries, Benin, Mali and Sierra Leone. Data were
collected in two stages. In the first stage, the main regions containing
inland valleys were identified in each of the three countries
and the most cultivated inland valley in each region was selected.
Weather data were obtained from weather stations located close to
the selected inland valleys. In regions with no weather stations,
Tinytag data loggers were installed in the inland valleys to collect
data on temperature, rainfall and relative humidity. In the second
stage, the location and size of all the farmers' fields in each inland
valley were determined using GPS devices. In 2013, soil samples
were collected in each farmer's field and the soil physical-chemical
properties were determined. Agronomic and socio-economic surveys
were conducted to collect data on cultivated crops, crop sequences
and management techniques using questionnaires and
informal interviews. Crop yields were determined in each farmer's
field in the growing season. The database contains a total of 131
variables divided into 9 themes: field characteristics, land preparation,
field maintenance, irrigation, residue management, soil data, weather data, crop productions in the dry season and crop
production in the rainy season.
