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Farmers do it better: local management of change in southern Burkina Faso
Author(s) -
Howorth C.,
O'Keefe P.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
land degradation and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.403
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1099-145X
pISSN - 1085-3278
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-145x(199903/04)10:2<93::aid-ldr307>3.0.co;2-4
Subject(s) - subsistence agriculture , livelihood , sustainability , geography , agriculture , indigenous , business , ethnic group , natural resource economics , environmental resource management , environmental planning , political science , economics , ecology , archaeology , law , biology
This paper focuses on the province of Sissili in southern Burkina Faso, an area that saw widespread immigration caused by the Sahelian droughts since the 1970s. This immigration caused concern over the economic and environmental sustainability of the province. However, over a period of two years of close contact with farming communities, adaptive and innovative actions were noted as people developed new resource‐use patterns to safeguard both environment and livelihood. The study examines various aspects of the production and livelihood system of indigenous and immigrant ethnic groups and shows that: the purpose of the emerging new resource use arrangements is to guarantee subsistence for all; negotiation between ethnic groups and communities is the mechanism that guarantees subsistence; landscapes (lifescapes) are not static and are created through assimilation of information and different farming systems; the objective of local production systems is to maximize livelihood subsistence and to minimise negative environmental impacts which threaten long term sustainability. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.