Farmers' Perceptions and Ecological Impacts of Soil Tillage Practices

Abstract

Conventional soil tillage can alter soil organisms and soil functions, yet field evidence from semi-arid West Africa remains limited. This exploratory study assessed farmers' perceptions of soil fauna and compared selected soil and crop indicators under tilled and untilled millet plots in Dosso Commune, Niger. The social component included 380 farmers from 10 villages organised into 20 focus groups. The field component comprised six 12 m² plots, with three tilled plots and three untilled control plots. Soil fauna were collected by visual search and hand collection, soil samples were composited from 0–20 cm depth within each plot, water infiltration time was measured descriptively, and millet ear and grain yields were assessed. Seventy-five percent of respondents recognised the importance of soil-faunal biodiversity, 60% associated soil organisms with improved crop yield, and 70% perceived tillage as harmful to soil organisms. Farmers ranked restoration of degraded land (46%), soil fertilisation (36%), and biological control (18%) as the principal agriculture-related ecosystem services. Ants (40%) and termites (30%) were the organisms most frequently reported. Complete infiltration required 60 min in the tilled treatment and 30 min in the untilled treatment. Mean millet ear and grain yields were 94.44 and 72.22 kg/ha in tilled plots and 61.11 and 33.33 kg/ha in untilled plots, respectively. Because field replication was limited and treatment comparisons were descriptive, the results should be interpreted as site-specific patterns rather than causal estimates. Overall, the findings support further replicated evaluation of reduced soil disturbance together with residue, weed, and crop-management practices in the Sahel.