Smallholders' Tree Planting Activity in the Ziro Province, Southern Burkina Faso : Impacts on Livelihood and Policy Implications

Climate variability and change significantly affect smallholder farmers' food security and livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa. Tree planting is one of the measures promoted by development programs to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Tree planting is also believed to positively contribute to livelihoods. This paper examines factors influencing smallholders' tree planting activities in four villages in the Ziro province, Southern Burkina Faso. Furthermore, it analyses the challenges encountered and willingness to continue tree planting under current tenure arrangements. The data was obtained through key informants, household interviews, focus group discussions, and field observations. Results indicate that the majority of farmers interviewed planted Mangifera indica (50%), Anacardium occidentale (32%) and Moringa oleifera (30%). In a number of trees planted, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Mangifera indica and Anacardium occidentale dominated. Tree planters were mainly farmers who held large and old farm areas, were literate and relatively wealthy, had favorable attitudes toward tree planting, and with considerable years of participation in a farmers' group. The main reasons for planting trees included income generation from the sale of tree products, access to markets and local support for tree planting. Preference for agriculture, tenure insecurity and lack of sufficient land were the main reasons cited for not planting trees. Farm households that were relatively poor, had smaller workforces and smaller farm sizes were not willing to continue tree planting. To effectively engage farmers in tree planting and to make it more attractive, policies are needed that address tenure insecurity for migrants, enable better access to markets, and support fair pricing structures for wood and other tree resources.Peer reviewe

Poverty and Environmental Degradation in Southern Burkina Faso: An Assessment Based on Participatory Methods

Peer reviewe

The art of co-production of knowledge in environmental sciences and management: lessons from international practice

This review paper addresses the challenging question of "how to" design and implement co-production of knowledge in climate science and other environmental and agricultural sciences. Based on a grounded theory review of nine (9) published case studies of transdisciplinary and collaborative research projects, the paper offers a set of common themes regarding specific components and processes for the design, implementation, and achievement of co-production of knowledge work, which represent the "Modus Operandi" of knowledge co-production. The analysis focuses on practical methodological guidance based on lessons from how different research teams have approached the challenges of complex collaborative research. We begin by identifying broad factors or actions that inhibit or facilitate the process, then highlight specific practices associated with co-production of knowledge and necessary competencies for undertaking co-production. We provide insights on issues such as the integration of social and professional cultures, gender and social equity, and power dynamics, and illustrate the different ways in which researchers have addressed these issues. By exploring the specific practices involved in knowledge co-production, this paper provides guidance to researchers on how to navigate different possibilities of the process of conducting transdisciplinary and co-production of knowledge research projects that best fit their research context, stakeholder needs, and research team capacities.U.S. Geological Survey from the Southwest Climate Science Center [G13AC00326]Open access article.This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Assessing use-values and relative importance of trees for livelihood values and their potentials for environmental protection in Southern Burkina Faso

Empirical ethnobotanical studies in Burkina Faso and the Sahel apply unmodified use-value methods, which often fail to capture uses of plants within and across categories. These methods mask both the relative uses and local people's 'true' knowledge of plant species. This study addresses these methodological weaknesses by assessing plant use-values within and across eight use categories for livelihood values and their potentials for environmental protection among 48 informants, selected through a stratified random technique. The research is twofold: (1) to document and identify the conservation status of plant species and (2) to assess local knowledge and perceived importance of the most easily found plant species in relation to informant's age, gender, ethnicity, and location. Seventy-three plant species belonging to 24 families were recorded on fields, fallows, and forests. The most easily found 30 species belonged to 14 families of which Combretaceae, Mimosodeae, Caesalpinioideae, and Anacardiaceae dominated. Results show that Adansonia digitata, Parkia biglobosa, Vitellaria paradoxa, and Balanites aegyptiaca were more valued for livelihood benefits, while A. digitata, Tamarindus indica, and Ficus thonningii received more value for their potentials in environmental protection. Local knowledge was unevenly distributed and showed significant differences at the 0.01 % level among gender, age, ethnicity, and study village. The relative importance of plant uses goes beyond nutrition and potentials in environmental protection and can provide valuable information for creating local markets for such goods. Three species belonging to different families were identified as vulnerable and considered priority for conservation. The design of conservation and development projects should consider creating opportunities for knowledge sharing that will not only improve knowledge but provide better understanding of local priorities based on sociocultural and economic factors.Peer reviewe

Improving Representation of Decision Rules in LUCC-ABM: An Example with an Elicitation of Farmers’ Decision Making for Landscape Restoration in Central Malawi

Restoring interlocking forest-agricultural landscapes—forest-agricscapes—to sustainably supply ecosystem services for socio-ecological well-being is one of Malawi’s priorities. Engaging local farmers is crucial in implementing restoration schemes. While farmers’ land-use decisions shape land-use/cover and changes (LUCC) and ecological conditions, why and how they decide to embrace restoration activities is poorly understood and neglected in forest-agricscape restoration. We analyze the nature of farmers’ restoration decisions, both individually and collectively, in Central Malawi using a mixed-method analysis. We characterize, qualitatively and quantitatively, the underlying contextual rationales, motives, benefits, and incentives. Identified decision-making rules reflect diverse and nuanced goal frames of relative importance that are featured in various combinations. We categorize the decision-making rules as: problem-solving oriented, resource/material-constrained, benefits-oriented, incentive-based, peers/leaders-influenced, knowledge/skill-dependent, altruistic-oriented, rules/norms-constrained, economic capacity-dependent, awareness-dependent, and risk averse-oriented. We link them with the corresponding vegetation- and non-vegetation-based restoration practices to depict the overall decision-making processes. Findings advance the representation of farmers’ decision rules and behavioral responses in computational agent-based modeling (ABM), through the decomposition of empirical data. The approach used can inform other modeling works attempting to better capture social actors’ decision rules. Such LUCC-ABMs are valuable for exploring spatially explicit outcomes of restoration investments by modeling such decision-making processes and policy scenarios

Smallholder farmers and forest landscape restoration in sub-Saharan Africa: evidence from Central Malawi

Malawi is a sub-Saharan African country at the forefront of the contemporary forest landscape restoration movement that places local smallholder farmers and resources users at the center of restoration actions. However, the manifestations of farmer-led bottom-up restoration efforts at individual and collective levels, and how they add up to landscape-scale restoration outcomes remain understudied. We analyze the nature of restoration efforts across interlocked forest and agricultural landscapes, estimate the extent of farmlands under restoration, and examine the contextual drivers and barriers of restoration. We use a mixed-methods approach combining a multivariate Tobit regression model and a Poisson model based on a 2019 household survey (N = 480 households), and qualitative insights from seven focus group discussions from Malawi's Dedza and Ntchisi Districts. The estimated mean total area of restored farmlands per household was 1.10 ( ± 0.76) and 1.07 ( ± 0.72) acres, representing, on average, about 54 % and 43 % of the total household landholdings in Dedza and Ntchisi, respectively. Results also indicate restoration diversification and intensification patterns whereby farmers generally combine two or more land-management practices based on complementarities in achieving specific livelihoods, food security, and ecological goals of restoration, and on compatibility regarding labor and other inputs demand. Land configuration mattered. Land plots that were spatially consolidated and tenure-secured were associated with higher restoration efforts. Also, women restoration efforts are limited by their inadequate access to productive inputs. Therefore, restoration policies should center on strategies that improve land-ownership security while minimizing fragmentation within landholdings and promote gender-responsive interventions. Drivers of collective resources restoration include strong local leadership; perceived tangible benefits for firewood, NTFPs, and timber resources; secure rights to collect firewood and free access to grazing areas; and perceived balanced among payoffs for energy needs, climate change adaptation, and ecological goals. These can inform restoration programs involving collective actions and their governance

Smallholders’ Tree Planting Activity in the Ziro Province, Southern Burkina Faso: Impacts on Livelihood and Policy Implications

Climate variability and change significantly affect smallholder farmers’ food security and livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa. Tree planting is one of the measures promoted by development programs to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Tree planting is also believed to positively contribute to livelihoods. This paper examines factors influencing smallholders’ tree planting activities in four villages in the Ziro province, Southern Burkina Faso. Furthermore, it analyses the challenges encountered and willingness to continue tree planting under current tenure arrangements. The data was obtained through key informants, household interviews, focus group discussions, and field observations. Results indicate that the majority of farmers interviewed planted Mangifera indica (50%), Anacardium occidentale (32%) and Moringa oleifera (30%). In a number of trees planted, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Mangifera indica and Anacardium occidentale dominated. Tree planters were mainly farmers who held large and old farm areas, were literate and relatively wealthy, had favorable attitudes toward tree planting, and with considerable years of participation in a farmers’ group. The main reasons for planting trees included income generation from the sale of tree products, access to markets and local support for tree planting. Preference for agriculture, tenure insecurity and lack of sufficient land were the main reasons cited for not planting trees. Farm households that were relatively poor, had smaller workforces and smaller farm sizes were not willing to continue tree planting. To effectively engage farmers in tree planting and to make it more attractive, policies are needed that address tenure insecurity for migrants, enable better access to markets, and support fair pricing structures for wood and other tree resources