Change and Adaptation in a Livestock-Producing Region: Northeastern Burkina Faso

Abstract

Case study of the north-eastern part of Burkina Faso, the provinces Seno, Soum and Oudalan, representing a semi-arid zone with low population densities and relatively low levels of land degradation. This area has long been a zone of transhumant livestock keepers, mainly FulBe. During and after the drought period of the 1970s and 1980s, many of these FulBe and other people (Tamachek and Mossi), many of them immigrants, settled in the area and adapted to the new circumstances, with the result being an increase in the cultivation of millet and higher yields. Better rainfall levels in the 1990s and a quite adequate adaptation resulted in a higher population with higher food security than in the decades before. The situation was further improved via extra income through migration, gold digging and the irrigated cultivation of vegetables aided by an improving transport infrastructure. In addition, growing urbanisation in the region itself triggered a growing market economy. For most households, livestock is no longer the dominant occupation, although in terms of total income its importance is still high.