The role of responsive heterogeneity in sub-Saharan smallholder farming sustainability: socio-economic and biophysical determinants of mineral and organic fertilizers used in South Western Burkina Faso

ABSTRACT

Sustainable soil nutrient management (SNM) is important for improving soil resources and food security in sub-Saharan African countries. Inherent livelihood diversity may lead to differences in household behavior in the adoption of SNM practices, thus challenging policy interventions uniformly implemented. This study aims at exploring the responsive heterogeneity in household behavior in the adoption of fertilizer use by farmers. Determinants of fertilizer uses were analyzed across different farm types. These farm types were identified from farm-household data collected in six villages in the South Western of Burkina Faso using the Sustainable Livelihood Framework. Using multilinear and binary logistic models, determinants of mineral, organic and combined mineral-organic fertilizer uses were analyzed. The results revealed that the determinants of SMN adoption include not only common determinants to whole sampled population (income, household size, access to roads and cereal areas), but also specific determinants to farm types (small ruminants, animal power, educational level and access to agro-training). This finding suggests that policy interventions will not be effective if the responsive heterogeneity in SNM adoption behavior is not taken into account. The study recommends the use of the presented framework, as an approach, to identify functional farm types to be considered in SNM policies.

KEYWORDS:

• Smallholder
• socio-economic and biophysical determinants
• sustainable nutrient management
• responsive heterogeneity
• Burkina Faso

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) which funded the Ph.D. Studies of the corresponding author at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). They also thank CGIAR Research Programme on Dryland Systems (CRP-DS) for the study visits. QBL thanks the support from CGIAR Initiatives on Sustainable Intensification of Mixed Farming Systems and Agroecology.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use.

Notes on contributors

Boundia Alexandre Thiombiano

Dr Boundia Alexandre Thiombiano is a Socio-economist and a Senior Lecturer at the Institute for Rural Development at University Nazi BONI in Burkina Faso. He holds a PhD in Climate Change and Adapted Land use from the Kwame N'Krumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. He has been a graduate fellow of the West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL). His research interest covers mainly agricultural livelihoods resilience, farming system design, agricultural value chains, climate change, sustainable land management and agent-based modeling. He was an external partner of the CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes and Dry Cereals (CRP GLDC) at International Center at International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA).

Quang Bao Le

Quang Bao Le (Ph.D., University of Bonn) has been an Agricultural Livelihood Systems Expert at International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) since 2015. Before joining ICARDA, Dr. Le was a Senior Researcher (2011-2015) at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich. With a coupled human-environment system perspective, for the past 18 years his research has focused on the development and application of human-environment system methodologies to integrate multi-disciplinary scientific expertise with societal decision-making processes to foster sustainable agricultural livelihood systems. He received Breheny Prize in 2013 for the best paper in Environment and Planning B journal and the Awards of Swiss Academy of Arts and Sciences 2013 for “Distinguished Achievement” in transdisciplinary research.

Denis Ouédraogo

Dr Dénis Ouédraogo holds a Doctorate in Environmental Economics and Sustainable Development. University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. He is Senior Lecturer at the Institute for Rural Development at University Nazi BONI in Burkina Faso. He has been a Graduate Fellow a Research Institute (ILRI) for three years and the Managing Director of the National Agricultural Training school of Burkina Faso for six years. His research areas span from agricultural productivity, Households Economy Analysis, food security to Environmental impact analysis.