In the Central Plateau of Burkina Faso, runo † on bare soil amounts to 40% of annual rainfall and soil losses reach 4 to 8 Mg ha ] 1 a ] 1 , despite slopes of under 3%. Several studies have shown that mulching the soil surface can reduce runo † by over 60%. However, the scarcity of straw and the incompatibility of mulching with mechanical soil preparation have prevented the large-scale adoption of the technique. T he study conducted in Saria village where annual rainfall is 800 mm, set out to evaluate the efficacy of sorghum-cowpea intercropping in reducing runo † and erosion. T he study design comprised Ðve plots set up so as to recover runo † and transported solids, on a Ferric lixisol with a slope of 0.7%. Three years results showed that sorghum-cowpea intercropping reduces runo † by 20-30% compared to a sorghum monoculture and by 45-55% compared to a cowpea monoculture. Soil loss is also reduced with intercropping by at least a half compared to sorghum and cowpea monoculture. Moreover, it transpired that sorghum-cowpea intercropping is also beneÐcial in agricultural production terms, since the grain yield of the intercropped plots was double that obtained with sorghum or cowpea monocultures. T he better crop production can be an asset for the widespread use of this technique in the country. An evaluation of the advantages of the legume in terms of nitrogen supplies to the cereal symbiotic Ðxation) and of added soil OM will be useful in (N 2 improving the cost-e †ectiveness of such a technique.

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