Do Runoff Water Harvesting Ponds Affect Farmers Cropping Choices? Insights from Smallholders in the West African Sahel
, Roland Yonaba 1,*, Abdou Lawane 2, Malicki Zorom 1, Fonzia Tassembédo 1, Hamed Ali Sahad 1 and Isidore Bazié 3Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors1. Reviewer’s comment.
The manuscript entitled "Do Runoff Water Harvesting Ponds Affect Farmers Cropping Choices? Insights from Smallholders in the West African Sahel” by Mamadou Sanogo, Roland Yonaba, Abdou Lawane, Malicki Zorom, Fonzia Tassembedo, Hamed Ali Sahad, and Isidore Bazié contributes to the world's problem of food insecurity, in particular in the West African Sahel. The authors enlighten a relatively novel solution for the issue – runoff water harvesting ponds (RWHP), which are applied by local farmers in Burkina Faso to improve irrigation regime on their fields. The authors’ interest is focused on the unexpected shift from cereals to vegetables among the crops preferred by farmers after the installation of RWHP. The present paper is written in a smooth language and provides a detailed background on the problem. However, I have some recommendations that could be valuable for the authors as well as the readership.
2. Following suggestions about the text and tables can be considered by authors:
1) The introduction. In my opinion, the information about total amount of farmers in the studied regions would be helpful for understanding the breadth of the topic.
2) Results and discussion. 3.1.1.1. The first two paragraphs before Table 1 duplicate the data from the table. I would exclude them because the text after Table 1 provides more complete and detailed information.
3) Results and discussion. 3.3.5. In my opinion, it could be interesting to supplement the Table 4 with data analyzed separately for each of the two studied regions. As one can conclude from Figure 6, Bazega and Kadiogo regions are very different from each other in almost all respects discussed in the paper. Such analysis can reveal some new valuable information, both scientifically and practically.
Considering all the above, I would recommend publishing the article with minor additions if authors find them appropriate and helpful.
Author Response
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Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe manuscript No. sustainability-3195732 titled “Do Runoff Water Harvesting Ponds Affect Farmers Cropping Choices? Insights from Smallholders in the West African Sahel” studied the farming decisions made by farmers in Burkina Faso's Kadiogo and Bazèga provinces, which are located in the West African Sahel region, who benefit from runoff water harvesting ponds. In addition to being well-written, the current work is also well-structured and presented. I do not have major comments to say. A few brief remarks are provided below.
Minor comments:
1) Please review the following terms as they appear in the paper. palliative, recurring, equip with, detriment, insofar, “provided that the RWHP is waterproof”, interventions, “seepage infiltration”, deemed, discourse, underrepresented, overwhelmingly, norms, perpetuate, agricultural shocks, “wandering livestock drowning”, longevity, opted, lucrative, proactively, rectify, embankments, applies, asserted, nuanced, disparity, albeit, interquartile, prone,
2) In line 175, instead of numbering [37], please write the author 's name. the same tendency with lines 307, 368, 474, 484, 502,
3) You may make the introduction better by adding more innovative ideas for producing water for irrigation in agriculture or by using water reuse scenarios, which are increasingly commonplace worldwide. Please read the following articles:
https://doi.org/10.3390/w15173064
https://doi.org/10.3390/w15173023
4) The materials and methods section should include a schematic picture showing the methodology that was used.
5) 5) In a separate section, please list the benefits and drawbacks of the RWHP.
6) Is the term "Modalities" in Table 2 appropriate for the different types of soil?
7) 7) What does "Lateritic" signify in Table 2? How come I had never heard of this expression before? Could you please clarify?
8) In line 287, please check “there is room for improvement in terms”.
9) In Table 3, please add the percentage irrigated before obtaining a RWHP for Market gardening.
10) Please explain how you would draw a conclusion from the data in the caption of Fig. 2.
11) Please explain line 355 about the infiltration losses. Water will be kept underground water, which is a benefit to retain rainfall water for a long period and prevent losses through evaporation, etc.
12) Lines 359, 368, and 380, please check “lateritic” for soil classification, I did not read about this expression before.
13) In line 370, please check “severely compromised”.
14) In Fig. 3, sand and lateritic (please check it) are out of comparison in some points, please clarify.
15) In line, 383, “The infiltration level is associated with the depth of the RWHP” seems to be meaningless, please check or correct it.
16) Figure 4, the period < week is missing from a pond of 1 meter depth, please explain.
17) In line 472, please check “warrants”.
18) In lines 505–510, it should be compiled under the unique section heading "presentative for future research to overcome RWHPs obstacles" You can also lay down your plan for solving RWHP's issues.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe article [sustainability-3195732] entitled (Do Runoff Water Harvesting Ponds Affect Farmers Cropping Choices? Insights from Smallholders in the West African Sahel) analyzed the cropping choices of producers benefiting from RWHP in the Kadiogo and Bazèga provinces of Burkina Faso in the West African Sahel. Where authors surveyed 27 samples of producers revealed a dominant preference for vegetable crops (93.46% of the total production) over cereals. The cropping choices are influenced by factors such as the crop resistance to dry spells, the water demand, the economic return and the market demand. For effective utilization of the basins, crop choices should consider the water retention capacity of the basin.
The study is well designed, introduced, and written, Moreover, results have good contributing in in the field of Agronomy in practice and in thefuture studies., Results are well discussed. The paper needs to be revised with these minor comments
1- Abstract should focus more on the important results
2- In Keywords: Delete all words that are in the title such as [Runoff harvesting and West African Sahel]
3- Lines 92-96: They should be in Introduction section
4- Lines 505-515: they should be in the conclusion section.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
