IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i21p5908-d279746.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of Land-Use Practices on Woody Plant Cover Dynamics in Sahelian Agrosystems in Burkina Faso since the 1970s–1980s Droughts

Author

Listed:
  • Wendpouiré Arnaud Zida

    (Institut de l’Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles (INERA), DEF, Ouagadougou 04 BP 8645 04, Burkina Faso
    Institut des Sciences de l’environnement, Université du Québec à Montréal, 201 Avenue du Président-Kennedy, Montréal, QC H2X 3Y7, Canada)

  • Babou André Bationo

    (Institut de l’Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles (INERA), DEF, Ouagadougou 04 BP 8645 04, Burkina Faso)

  • Jean-Philippe Waaub

    (Département de Géographie, Université du Québec à Montréal, GEIGER, GERAD, CP 8888 succ. Centre-Ville, Montréal, QC H3C 3P8, Canada)

Abstract

The 1970s–1980s droughts in the Sahel caused a significant degradation of land and plant cover. To cope with this situation, populations have developed several biophysical and social adaptation practices. Many of these are agroforestry practices and contribute to the maintenance of agrosystems. Unfortunately, they remain insufficiently documented and their contributions to the resilience of agrosystems insufficiently evaluated. Many authors widely link the regreening in the Sahel after droughts to the resumption of rainfall. This study examines the contribution of agroforestry practices to the improvement of woody plant cover in the North of Burkina Faso after the 1970s–1980s droughts. The examination of practices is carried out by integrating the rainfall, soil, and geomorphology variables. Landsat images are used to detect changes in woody plant cover: increasing, decreasing, and no-change in the Enhanced Vegetation Index. In addition, 230 field observations, coupled with interviews conducted on the different categories of change, have allowed to characterize the biophysical environment and identify land-use practices. The results show a variability of vegetation index explained to 9% (R 2 = 0.09) by rainfall. However, Chi-Squared independence tests show a strong dependence between changes in woody plant cover and geomorphology ( p = 0.0018 *), land use, land cover ( p = 0.0001 *), and land-use practices ( p = 0.0001 *). Our results show that rainfall alone is not enough to explain the dynamics of agrosystems’ woody plant cover. Agricultural and social practices related to the dynamics of farmer perceptions play a key role.

Suggested Citation

  • Wendpouiré Arnaud Zida & Babou André Bationo & Jean-Philippe Waaub, 2019. "Effects of Land-Use Practices on Woody Plant Cover Dynamics in Sahelian Agrosystems in Burkina Faso since the 1970s–1980s Droughts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-20, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:21:p:5908-:d:279746
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/21/5908/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/21/5908/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nouhoun Zampaligré & Lisa Elena Fuchs, 2019. "Determinants of Adoption of Multiple Climate-Smart Adaptation Practices in Sudano-Sahelian Pastoral and Agro-Pastoral Production Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-15, September.
    2. Clement Nyamekye & Michael Thiel & Sarah Schönbrodt-Stitt & Benewinde J.-B. Zoungrana & Leonard K. Amekudzi, 2018. "Soil and Water Conservation in Burkina Faso, West Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-24, September.
    3. Hiernaux, P. & De Leeuw, P. N. & Diarra, L., 1994. "Modelling tillering of annual grasses as a function of plant density: Application to Sahelian rangelands productivity and dynamics," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 121-139.
    4. Epule, Terence Epule & Ford, James D. & Lwasa, Shuaib & Lepage, Laurent, 2017. "Climate change adaptation in the Sahel," Environmental Science & Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 121-137.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chunjiang An & Mengfan Cai & Christophe Guy, 2020. "Rural Sustainable Environmental Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-5, August.
    2. Colin Thor West & Sarah Benecky & Cassandra Karlsson & Bella Reiss & Aaron J. Moody, 2020. "Bottom-Up Perspectives on the Re-Greening of the Sahel: An Evaluation of the Spatial Relationship between Soil and Water Conservation (SWC) and Tree-Cover in Burkina Faso," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-22, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Espoir Mukengere Bagula & Jackson-Gilbert Mwanjalolo Majaliwa & Twaha Ali Basamba & Jean-Gomez Mubalama Mondo & Bernard Vanlauwe & Geofrey Gabiri & John-Baptist Tumuhairwe & Gustave Nachigera Mushagal, 2022. "Water Use Efficiency of Maize ( Zea mays L.) Crop under Selected Soil and Water Conservation Practices along the Slope Gradient in Ruzizi Watershed, Eastern D.R. Congo," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-20, October.
    2. Nthambi, Mary & Wätzold, Frank & Markova-Nenova, Nonka, 2018. "Quantifying benefit losses from poor governance of climate change adaptation projects: A discrete choice experiment with farmers in Kenya," MPRA Paper 94678, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Matthew D. Turner & Molly Teague & Augustine Ayantunde, 2021. "Livelihood, culture and patterns of food consumption in rural Burkina Faso," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(5), pages 1193-1213, October.
    4. Edmond Totin & Alcade C. Segnon & Marc Schut & Hippolyte Affognon & Robert B. Zougmoré & Todd Rosenstock & Philip K. Thornton, 2018. "Institutional Perspectives of Climate-Smart Agriculture: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-20, June.
    5. Yonaba, R. & Koïta, M. & Mounirou, L.A. & Tazen, F. & Queloz, P. & Biaou, A.C. & Niang, D. & Zouré, C. & Karambiri, H. & Yacouba, H., 2021. "Spatial and transient modelling of land use/land cover (LULC) dynamics in a Sahelian landscape under semi-arid climate in northern Burkina Faso," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    6. Fuchs, Lisa Elena & Orero, Levi & Apondi, Victoria Atieno & Kipkorir, Lang'at, 2021. "How to stop wasting money in international development: Using a structured group selection approach to counter procedural inefficiency," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    7. Xiangjian Rui & Lei Nie & Yan Xu & Hong Wang, 2019. "Land Degeneration due to Water Infiltration and Sub-Erosion: A Case Study of Soil Slope Failure at the National Geological Park of Qian-an Mud Forest, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-17, August.
    8. Berre, David & Adam, Myriam & Koffi, Christophe K. & Vigne, Mathieu & Gautier, Denis, 2022. "Tailoring management practices to the structure of smallholder households in Sudano-Sahelian Burkina Faso: Evidence from current practices," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    9. Amadou Keita & Dial Niang & Sibri Alphonse Sandwidi, 2022. "How Non-Governmental-Organization-Built Small-Scale Irrigation Systems Are a Failure in Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-19, September.
    10. Nthambi, Mary & Markova-Nenova, Nonka & Wätzold, Frank, 2021. "Quantifying Loss of Benefits from Poor Governance of Climate Change Adaptation Projects: A Discrete Choice Experiment with Farmers in Kenya," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    11. Colin Thor West & Sarah Benecky & Cassandra Karlsson & Bella Reiss & Aaron J. Moody, 2020. "Bottom-Up Perspectives on the Re-Greening of the Sahel: An Evaluation of the Spatial Relationship between Soil and Water Conservation (SWC) and Tree-Cover in Burkina Faso," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-22, June.
    12. Koide, Junji & Yokoyama, Shigeki & Hirouchi, Shinji & Hirose, Chikako & Oka, Naoko & Oda, Masato & Yanagihara, Seiji, 2021. "Exploring climate-resilient and risk-efficient cropping strategies using a new pond irrigation system: An experimental study in northern Ghana," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    13. Rahwa Kidane & Thomas Wanner & Melissa Nursey-Bray & Md. Masud-All-Kamal & Gerald Atampugre, 2022. "The Role of Climatic and Non-Climatic Factors in Smallholder Farmers’ Adaptation Responses: Insights from Rural Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-20, May.
    14. Epule, Terence Epule & Chehbouni, Abdelghani & Chfadi, Tarik & Ongoma, Victor & Er-Raki, Salah & Khabba, Said & Etongo, Daniel & Martínez-Cruz, Adán L. & Molua, Ernest L. & Achli, Soumia & Salih, Wiam, 2022. "A Systematic National Stocktake of Crop Models in Morocco," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 470(C).
    15. Lawani Adjadi Mounirou & Roland Yonaba & Fowé Tazen & Gebiaw T. Ayele & Zaher Mundher Yaseen & Harouna Karambiri & Hamma Yacouba, 2022. "Soil Erosion across Scales: Assessing Its Sources of Variation in Sahelian Landscapes under Semi-Arid Climate," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-19, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:21:p:5908-:d:279746. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.