Abstract:
In Burkina Faso, rice consumption is currently common and increasing in
both, rural and urban areas. Although several efforts have been made by the
state to develop land for rice cultivation, the population’s demand is still
greater than the supply. Nevertheless, the country has great potential for rice
cultivation. This study aims to analyze the suitability of land for rice cropping
in the province of Nahouri. Field and satellite data were collected to map the
rice crops developed areas. Furthermore, morphopedological, topographic,
land use/cover, and accessibility to land data were collected and integrated
into a Geographic Information System (GIS) based on simple Multi-Criteria
Analysis (MCA). Land suitability for rice crop was performed. The results
show that the total suitable area for rice cultivation in the province is 106,373
ha (28% of the province) where the most suitable areas cover 32,614 ha and
the suitable areas cover 73,759 ha. Already 3144 ha of the province area had
been developed for rice cultivation with 815 ha and 845 ha of most suitable
and suitable areas respectively whereas more than 45% of the developed lands
were not fit for the rice crop suitable land.
