In Burkina Faso, farmers have adopted the practice of manual zaï and mechanized zaï for the rehabilitation of the productivity of degraded lands to meet the water needs of rainfed crops through the making of pockets. The arduousness of the work for making the pockets remains the major constraint to the adoption of the zaï practice. The objective of this study is to analyze the technical and economic performance of zaï. Using a block device, the practice of making pockets with the Zaïner is compared to those made manually with the daba and mechanized using animal traction. The technical and economic performance of the practice of motorized zaï is evaluated based on yield, investment, working time and net margin. The results show that sorghum yields from motorized zaï (1844 kg/ha) are higher than those from manual (1413 kg/ha) and mechanized (625 kg/ha) zaï. The practice of mechanized zaï requires less work time than motorized and manual zaï. The net margin is estimated at 176,871 FCFA/ha, 263,548 FCFA/ha and 56,025 FCFA/ha respectively for manual, motorized and mechanized zaï. The implementation of motorized zaï makes it possible to generate a higher net margin than other practices. However, it is necessary to continue testing the motorized zaï in a peasant environment depending on the agro-climatic zones to guide decision-making on its scale-up.

Smallholder farmers are the main food providers for rural and urban people in Burkina Faso, however, they suffer from a lack of appropriate farm mechanized. The work aims to understand the current situation in regards to food security of smallholder farmers in the Hauts-Bassin Region (HBR), Appropriate-Scale Mechanization Consortium (ASMC) intervention area. Approximately 30 households per village in 32 villages totaling 946 households were surveyed. Ninety-eight percent of farmers produced maize and 34% produced vegetables for the market or family consumption. Cereal crop production per household was about 8.7 ha, 5.2 ha of which was for maize production. The average production of maize was 4300 kg per household with yields ranging from 1000 to 1700 kg/ha. Eight percent of households reported a Food Consumption Score (FCS) less than 21 (poor food consumption) while 10% reported an FCS less than 35 (borderline food consumption). However, under the standard World Food Program (WFP) scoring category, 82% of the households had acceptable food consumption score. Annual per capita food consumption expenditures in HBR varied across provinces from 45611 to 49498 CFA ($79 to $85 U.S). Although 59% of households reported having access to credit, only 42% received credit. Sixty-nine percent of households used improved high-yielding and drought-tolerant seeds. In conclusion, we determined in this study that 82% of the households had acceptable FCS. The remaining 18% of households belonging to a group of poor to borderline FCS need food assistance to improve their food situation. Therefore, formulation and implementation of food security policies targeting these vulnerable households to ensure a healthy diet are necessary. Besides, amelioration of agriculture production systems through appropriate scale mechanization will intensify sustainably while diversifying food production. Finally, a periodic food security profile study covering the various seasons' will helps understand the dynamics and implement better food security policies.