Zai Pits
Burkina Faso
Grains & Cereals
Enhanced Water Management
Impact Highlights
Yield on reclaimed land
Hectares brought back
Days of dry spell buffered
Summary
Practice snapshot
Practice
Zai planting pits
Implementin Organization
To be confirmed — placeholder for the implementing organisation.
Geography
Burkina Faso, Niger
Crops / Value Chain
Grains / Cereals
Adoption & outcomes
Farmers Reached
1,150
2026
Core Outcomes
Enhanced Water Management
Practitioner Languages
French
Date Submitted
August 2026
How to Adopt
1
2
3
4
Key Takeaways
Recommendations for Successful Farmer Adoption
Recruit through reclaimed demonstration plots rather than classroom training.
Address the labour constraint directly with tools, work groups or traction, rather than treating it as a motivation problem.
Secure an organic matter supply before promoting the technique, since pits without compost underperform badly.
Set expectations around dry-spell buffering, not drought-proofing.
Pitfalls and Implementation Risks
Promoting pits where households migrate for dry-season income and cannot supply the labour.
Skipping the compost step, which removes much of the benefit and the termite effect.
Overstating drought resilience and losing farmer trust after a failed season.
Allowing poor spacing and depth to pass in training, which produces weak and inconsistent results.
Economics Snapshot
Key financial metrics
Average cost per hectare for program
9,600
Average cost per hectare to farmer
100%
Average farmer income gain
22%
Evergrow Organic Fertilizer
Regen Organics produces Evergrow, a nutrient-rich organic fertilizer made from 100% organic materials.
Kenya
Horticulture Crops
Improved Soil Health
Vermicompost
Worm-worked compost applied to smallholder vegetable plots to rebuild soil organic matter.
Kenya
Horticulture Crops
Improved Soil Health
