Abstract

This study focused on the management of water resource by vegetable growers to cope with the phenomenon of climate variability. This work aims to improve production capacity of market gardening even if water resource can decrease. The database is constituted by hydro-climatic data (precipitation, temperature, water table) and inquiries from 128 agricultural producers spread over 5 geographical sites of administrative area of Korhogo, located in the north of Côte d'Ivoire. Sampling was carried out at two levels: 1) the choice of survey sites with the plants grown there, 2) the quality and number of producers. The different types of data and inquiries findings have been examined through descriptive and comparative statistical analysis. The evolution of market gardening production is following rainfall one. Therefore, it is suitable to mobilize surplus of water occurred in extreme rainy season or maintain soil moisture which can keep natural vegetables crops requirements. The majority of market gardeners applied drainage during rainy season to remove surplus water from the plots, and they collected groundwater from no deeper wells or surface water through dams during dry season.

Keywords

market gardening, water resource, climate variability, Korhogo