Terre365 introduces year-round, climate-resilient farming to smallholders in Burkina Faso, where degraded soils, erratic rainfall and limited irrigation confine most production to a single rainfed season. The project is an Impact Cluster funded by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and delivered by a Dutch-Burkinabé consortium led by Stichting Practica, combining mechanised Zaï land preparation, affordable irrigation, organic soil improvement and digital irrigation advice. FutureWater contributes Croptimal, its digital irrigation advisory service, which draws on satellite data and weather forecasts to help farmers schedule irrigation and use water efficiently. Working in the Nord, Centre-Nord, Centre-Ouest and Plateau Central regions, the project establishes demonstration plots on working farms, trains farmers and youth service providers, and builds a local supply and service network so the technologies remain available after the project ends.

Agricultural production in Burkina Faso is constrained by degraded soils, erratic rainfall and limited water management. Smallholder farmers depend on rainfed production, which leaves income highly seasonal and arable land idle through the dry season. Manual practices such as digging Zaï pits are labour-intensive and limit the area that can be cultivated, while affordable irrigation technologies and the services to maintain them are scarce in rural areas.

Terre365 is an Impact Cluster financed by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and implemented by a consortium led by Stichting Practica with Holland Greentech, Techforce, CSF and FutureWater. Over three years, including an inception phase, the consortium introduces an integrated package of climate-smart technologies: the Zainer machine that mechanises the traditional Zaï technique, efficient irrigation systems, organic soil improvement, and digital irrigation advice.

A field of red soil dug into long rows of evenly spaced Zai planting pits by the Zainer machine, with a single operator working in the distance.
The Zainer mechanises the traditional Zaï technique, digging evenly spaced pits that capture rainwater and concentrate soil fertility over a far larger area than manual digging allows.

FutureWater contributes Croptimal, its digital irrigation advisory service, which combines satellite data, weather forecasts and local calibration to optimise water use and crop productivity. FutureWater adapts the service to the Burkinabé context, validates it against field conditions at the demonstration sites, and extends it with a WhatsApp channel and translation into Mooré. It also tracks digital advisory use, water productivity and technical performance for the project’s monitoring framework.

Croptimal combines crop, field and irrigation characteristics with weather station and satellite data, and sends the resulting irrigation advice to farmers as WhatsApp messages.

Knowledge transfer runs throughout. FutureWater develops training materials on the Croptimal app and irrigation practice, alongside partner training on manufacturing, soil management and good agricultural practice. Demonstrations are hosted on existing farms rather than dedicated project fields, so that lead farmers, extension officers and the youth service providers trained by the project carry the technologies into normal use once support ends.