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This study aimed to examine the correlations between the agroecological status of farms and their viability in agro-sylvo-pastoral systems located in the savannah areas of West Africa. The methodology is based on farm surveys (to assess agroecological farm status) and on farmers' focus group discussions (to assess viability at the farm level). Agroecological farm status was established by considering 15 agricultural practices: 4 on by-products recycling; 4 on soil protection; 4 on industrial inputs limitation; 2 on smart use of natural resources; 1 on cropping diversification; An agroecological (Ae) scoring system was used to establish an Ae ranking by farm type. Farm level viability was established by men and women farmers' focus group discussions: Inventory of viability enhancing and viability-weakening factors; Rating intensity of each viability factor. A scoring system was used to establish Viability ranking by farm type. Four iconic farm types were considered: Small crop-oriented (T1); Medium-size crop-oriented (T2); Large crop-livestock oriented (T3); Livestock-oriented (T4). The findings demonstrate that the viability of agro-sylvo-pastoral systems is not solely dependent on their agroecological status. The ranking of the four farm types, from the first to the last position, is T4, T2, T3, and T1 for agroecology; and T2, T3, T4 and T1 for viability. Our study reveals that T1 farms in Koumbia are not highly agroecological or highly viable. Similarly, farms with the largest cultivated areas (T3) and herds (T4) are not the most agroecological or viable. The best balance between agroecology and viability is struck by T2 farms. We recommend promoting the development of T2 farms that demonstrate the best congruence between agroecology and viability as a model for T1, T3, and T4 farmers. Depending on the agroecological status, one farm could be more or less viable.

Description of the subject. Considering the increasing price of animal feeds and synthetic fertilizers, agro-pastoral farmers of Western Africa, in Burkina Faso in particular, try to increase the use of Crops Co-Products (CCP: straw, tops, stalks) and Livestocks Co-Products (LCP: faeces) to feed animals and fertilize cultivated fields, however face challenges to do so. Objectives. Our objectives were to characterize the management and recycling practices of CCP and LCP at the farm level and to assess their contribution to the coverage of forage and manure needs. Method. Data collected by survey on 60 agro-pastoral farms in six villages in western Burkina Faso. On-farm management practices of CCP and LCP characterized by eight variables. Flows of CCP and LCP characterized at three levels: farm, crop and livestock units, and type of co-product management system. Results. Out of the ~21 tons of CCP available per farm, 23% are recycled as forage, and 77% are not or scarcely recovered by farms. Out of the ~24 tons of LCP available per farm, 40% are recovered for use as manure, 60% are scattered off-farm during grazing and mobility. Co-products recycling covers only 16% of farm needs in forage and manure. Conclusions. Co-products are poorly recycled, and their level of recovery depends on farm equipment, manpower and herd mobility. Facing this challenge, we are developing a farm-level co-products recycling/advisory tool to support farmers in the agroecological transition.

Agriculture in semi-arid Burkina Faso is dominated by mixed crop-livestock smallholder farms with limited investment capacity in production factors, such as improved seeds, fertilizer and equipment. Hence, to make a living, farmers try to make the best use of available resources based on principles of agro-ecology, including crop diversity and nutrient and biomass recycling. We investigated farm-level management of resources (soil, crops and livestock) through time to assess whether the current management options were able to sustain crop and livestock production and fulfil household food requirements. We ran a one-year detailed farm monitoring campaign in collaboration with 22 volunteer farmers representing the diversity of the farming system in our study area. We quantified inputs and outputs in the cropping system (177 fields) for one rainy season. In addition, the weekly dynamics of crop residues left on field were quantified. Moreover, inflow and outflow of resources at farm level were quantified weekly. The cropping system was characterized by a negative nitrogen balance of about 12 kg N/ha/year, with market-oriented farms and large livestock owners having the most negative balance. Legumes grown (sole and intercropping) contributed to alleviate the nitrogen depletion by adding 15 kg N/ha/year to the nitrogen inputs through atmospheric fixation. However, cereal-legume intercropping did not significantly reduce the nitrogen deficit in comparison to sole cereal cropping mainly because of the small proportion of legumes (8%) in intercropped fields. Livestock grazed crop residues left on the soil (739 kg dry matter/ha on average) at a rate of 26 − 76 kg/ha/week, thus strongly reducing the potential for mulching in the region. Livestock protein requirements were rarely met from farm-produced feed with average feed gaps ranging between 40% and 89% of the daily requirements for small and large herd keepers respectively. Large livestock (cattle) owners relied on trans

Smallholder farming systems face many adversities including poor soil fertility, poor access to inputs, and high dependence on climate variability. On top of that, ongoing climate change is expected to exacerbate the effect of abiotic and abiotic stresses on farm performances, and poses additional challenges of adaptation to climate change. This chapter presents the effect of climate change on the different components of the farming systems (crop, livestock, grassland and tree), in the context of low-input systems. After this account, we argue on the need to have a more integrative approach to assess the effect of climate change on farming systems as a whole. We expose different approaches: coupling of models, use of optimization model. We finally highlight the importance of involving farmers in the process of using models to co-design relevant adaptations to climate change in the context of low input systems.

Farm households in Burkina Faso face many challenges including poor soil fertility, climate variation and land constraint due to migrants arrived from the North of the country. Low soil fertility prevents farmers from achieving food self-sufficiency and food security. The present study aims at co-designing and testing in a participatory setting, sorghum-based cropping systems to improve soil fertility and yield as soil infertility was mentioned by farmers as their main constraint. Researchers and farmers suggested three rotations which were tested in on-station trials in two contrasted communities. The experiment was designed following a fisher block with four repetitions. In the first year, cowpea, mucuna and crotalaria were grown in sole crop system. In Tanvousse, all the plots received organic manure 2.5t/ha and in Nagreonkoudogo all the plots received NPK, 75kg/ha with localized application. Cowpea and mucuna biomass were harvested but crotalaria biomass was left in the plot. For the second year, sorghum was grown in all plots with the same conditions of fertilization, therefore, we had sorghum preceded by cowpea (T1), sorghum preceded by mucuna (T2), sorghum preceded by crotalaria (T3). During the growing season, two participatory evaluations were conducted. Results showed that T1, T2 and T3 produced respectively 900 kg/ha, 900 kg/ha and 800kg/ha of sorghum grains in Tanvousse and 2100 kg/ha, 1900 kg/ha, and 2100 kg/ha in Nagreonkoudogo. Striga impact was recorded because farmers consider it as fertility indicator. For striga impact in “striga/100 sorghum plants”, T1, T2 and T3 got respectively 72, 140, 55 in Tanvousse and 180, 60, 65 in Nagreonkoudogo. At the flowering stage, farmers first choice was T2 in Tanvousse and T1 in Nagreonkoudogo. At the maturity of sorghum, farmers first choice was T1 in both communities which also got the highest yield in both communities. Farmers opinion seems to be context dependent.

CONTEXT: The semi-arid zone of Burkina Faso is characterized by strong climate variability and declining soil fertility associated with low biomass production. OBJECTIVE: The main objective of this study was to identify key levers to improve biomass management in semi-arid Burkina Faso for diverse farm types. METHODS: Farm diversity was captured with a statistical typology complemented by a participatory typology established with local farmers. Biomass management was described for the different farm types based on survey information obtained from 228 households across two villages. Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (FCM) was conducted to represent biomass production strategies of each farm type. After a sensitivity analysis which revealed model robustness, scenario analysis was performed with the FCMs to explore farm type-specific options for alleviating biomass scarcity. Two contrasting scenarios were built based on observations and insights from the survey and focus group discussions with farmers and included (1) deliberate exchange of crop residue with manure, and (2) a subsidies policy allowing a reduction in prices of 30% for farm inputs coupled with increased off-farm revenue for the subsistence-oriented farms. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The statistical typology identified four farm types, distinguishing between subsistence or market-oriented farms and crop or livestock-oriented production. The participatory typology partly confirmed these four main types, even though other criteria of distinction were given by farmers. Different farm types used contrasted strategies in biomass production and management which were mainly driven by the total cultivated area and the herd size. The farm type with the largest herd and smallest cultivated land was the only one to rely on grain inflow from outside the farm to meet its household food requirement. The inflow of crop residue was also largest for this farm type. In contrast, crop residue outflow was mainly observed for the subsiste

Designing innovative cropping systems is an active field of agricultural research challenged by the agroecological transition. One of the challenges is to adapt cropping systems to the diversity of farms and contexts. For instance, in the cotton production zone of Burkina Faso differences between farm resources, agricultural situations and agronomic constraints have resulted in a wide range of farming systems. In this context, to break with the trend toward cotton production, we co-designed eight legume-based innovative cropping systems (ICS) likely to meet the objectives sought and the constraints faced by a wide range of local farmers, thus constituting a “basket of options”. Our approach was to enable each farmer to choose the option they considered best suited to their conditions. To that end, the ICSs were implemented and discussed with farmers in participatory prototyping trials. After one season of co-evaluating the different ICSs, the farmers taking part in the co-evaluation were able to test an ICS on their own farm, by choosing and adapting one of the options. Thirty-nine farmers out of seventy-three chose an ICS to test. They were asked the reasons for their choice. Their selection criteria were analyzed in relation to comments made during collective activities organized in the participatory prototyping trials. To complete this analysis, we built an expert-based farming system typology and a statistical typology based on data collected in a rural household multi-indicator survey (RHoMIS) of 63 farms participating in this study. The two farming system typologies were compared, and the relationships between farming system types and the ICS tested on the farm were analyzed. We found that farmers did not really base their choice on their farming system. Rather, they used a wide range of criteria that varied from farmer to farmer, and they were influenced by what they had learned during the collective activities organized in the participatory prototyping trial

Agriculture in semi-arid Burkina Faso is dominated by mixed crop-livestock smallholder farms with limited investment capacity in production factors (e.g. improved seeds, fertiliser and equipment). Hence, to maintain production, farmers try to make the best use of available resources based on principles of agro-ecology, including crop diversity and nutrient and biomass recycling). We investigated farm-level management of resources (soil, crops, manure, fertiliser and livestock) through time to assess whether the current management options were able to sustain crop and livestock production and fulfil household food requirements. We ran a one-year detailed farm monitoring campaign in collaboration with 22 volunteer farms representing the diversity of the farming system in our study area. We quantified inputs and outputs in the cropping system (244 plots) for one rainy season. In addition, the weekly dynamics of crop residues left on field was quantified up to 12 weeks after harvest. Moreover, inflow and outflow of resources at farm-level were quantified weekly. The cropping system was characterised by a negative nitrogen balance of about 10 kg N ha-1 at the farm level. At the field level, cereal-legume intercropping significantly reduced the nitrogen deficit from -23.7 kg N ha-1 (sole cereals) to -4.8 kg N ha-1. Dry season livestock grazing caused the amount of crop residue left on the soil after harvest (739 kg DM ha-1 on average) to quickly reduce at a rate of 26–76 kg DM ha-1 per week, leaving very little mulch as organic amendment. Livestock protein requirements were rarely met from farm-produced feed with average feed gaps ranging between 22 and 94 % of the requirements for small herd and large keepers respectively. Large livestock (cattle) owners relied on transhumance during the rainy season, grazing and frequent purchase of crop residues and concentrates to feed their livestock. Concerning food availability in the household, the amount of grain produced (89–175

CONTEXT: The semi-arid zone of Burkina Faso is characterized by strong climate variability and declining soil fertility associated with low biomass production. OBJECTIVE: The main objective of this study was to identify key levers to improve biomass management in semi-arid Burkina Faso for diverse farm types. METHODS: Farm diversity was captured with a statistical typology complemented by a participatory typology established with local farmers. Biomass management was described for the different farm types based on survey information obtained from 228 households across two villages. Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (FCM) was conducted to represent biomass production strategies of each farm type. After a sensitivity analysis which revealed model robustness, scenario analysis was performed with the FCMs to explore farm type-specific options for alleviating biomass scarcity. Two contrasting scenarios were built based on observations and insights from the survey and focus group discussions with farmers and included (1) deliberate exchange of crop residue with manure, and (2) a subsidies policy allowing a reduction in prices of 30% for farm inputs coupled with increased off-farm revenue for the subsistence-oriented farms. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The statistical typology identified four farm types, distinguishing between subsistence or market-oriented farms and crop or livestock-oriented production. The participatory typology partly confirmed these four main types, even though other criteria of distinction were given by farmers. Different farm types used contrasted strategies in biomass production and management which were mainly driven by the total cultivated area and the herd size. The farm type with the largest herd and smallest cultivated land was the only one to rely on grain inflow from outside the farm to meet its household food requirement. The inflow of crop residue was also largest for this farm type. In contrast, crop residue outflow was mainly observed for the subsiste

In West Africa, new management practices such as conservation agriculture with crop residue mulching can improve crop yields for individual farmers. However, in a context of complex social interactions between farmers, the introduction of such practices can also lead to conflicts between private interests and communal use of resources, for example the free grazing of crop residues. The objective of this paper was to assess ex-ante the impacts of the practice of crop residue mulching on crop productivity in a village of central Burkina Faso using an agent-based model, AMBAWA, that simulates the flows of biomass and nutrients between crop and livestock systems at the village scale. The model considers the interactions between four types of farmers that were identified in the study site: subsistence-oriented crop farmers, market-oriented crop farmers, agro-pastoralists and pastoralists. The model simulated increased cattle migration outside the village due to increased crop residue scarcity during the dry season with increased proportions of cropland under the practice of conservation agriculture, decreasing the manure availability at village scale. Consequently, the assumed direct yield increases due to soil moisture conservation as a result of mulching did not compensate for the yield losses resulting from lesser amounts of manure available. This effect was felt most strongly by farmers who own relatively large numbers of cattle (agro-pastoralists and pastoralists). The total maize production at village level depended more on the proportion of cropping land that was available for grazing by cattle, and thus not mulched, than on a possible direct effect of mulching on yield per se. The AMBAWA model can support discussion among stakeholders (farmers, traditional and administrative authorities) who are involved in the private and communal management of crop residues and other biomass resources, in order to co-design effective arrangements and practices for their sustain

Understanding farm diversity is essential to delineate recommendation domains for new technologies, but diversity is a subjective concept, and can be described differently depending on the way it is perceived. Historically, new technologies have been targeted primarily based on agro-ecological conditions, largely ignoring socioeconomic conditions. Based on 273 farm households' surveys in Ethiopia, we compare two approaches for the delineation of farm type recommendation domains for crop and livestock technologies: one based on expert knowledge and one based on statistical methods. The expert-based typology used a simple discriminant key for stakeholders in the field to define four farm types based on Tropical Livestock Unit, total cultivated surface and the ratio of these two indicators. This simple key took only a few minutes to make inferences about the potential of adoption of crop and livestock technologies. The PCA-HC analysis included a greater number of variables describing the farm (land use, household size, cattle, fertilizer, off-farm work, hiring labour, production). This analysis emphasized the multi-dimensional potential of such a statistical approach and, in principle, its usefulness to grasp the full complexity of farming systems to identify their needs in crop and livestock technologies. A sub-sampling approach was used to test the impact of data selection on the diversity represented in the statistical approach. Our results show that diversity structure is significantly impacted according to the choice of a sub-sample of 15 of the 20 variables available. This paper shows the complementarity of the two approaches and demonstrates the influence of data selection within large baseline data sets on the total diversity represented in the clusters identified.