Smallholder agricultural livelihood livelihood type-specific behaviour analyses for better targeting adoption of sustainable land management: A demonstrative case analysis in Pontieba, south-western Burkina Faso

Abstract

The support to the transition of Agricultural Livelihood System in dryland areas poses the need of better sizing actual farming system structure and functioning. This study was conducted in the frame of a research on dry areas aiming proposing an agent-based model of smallholder Agricultural Livelihood Systems (ALS) in the village of Pontieba, Southern Burkina Faso. The study used a previously formulated ALS typology to analyse land-use decision making by each ALS type. Multi-nominal logistic (M-Logit) regressions and Bi-Logit were used to estimate the effects of wide ranges of land conditions, livelihood characteristics and access to rural credits on household's adoption of crop and nutrient adoption uses. The regressions used multi-dimensional nested household-plot data generated by combining household survey and GIS analysis. The results showed that the main significant drivers for both crop choice model and nutrient management adoption model were Household head age and his education, household size, Plot distance from household homestead, plot size, crop history on the plot and household enabling policies. Common and livelihood system type-specific drivers were identified. The study demonstrated the role of heterogeneity in farm behaviour. It provides with useful information for farming design studies, policy intervention, and moreover for agent-based modelling of smallholder Agricultural Livelihood Systems.