The relationship between collective action and intensification of livestock production: the case of Northeastern Burkina Faso

In this paper, we develop a simple game-theoretic model to explore the relationship between management of common pool resources used as an input in livestock production (common pastures) and the adoption of inputs associated with intensified per animal production (veterinary services, purchased fodder, feed concentrates, etc.). Theoretically, it is shown that better managed pastures should lead to increased adoption of complementary inputs but decrease adoption of substitute inputs; impacts on stock levels, however, are ambiguous. An empirical model is developed and applied to data collected in northeast Burkina Faso in 2000 and 2002. Results indicate that better managed pastures, proxied by community-level cooperative capacity indices, are indeed associated with lower purchases of substitute goods, e.g. purchases of low-value feeds and greater purchases of complementary inputs, e.g. high-quality feeds. However, purchase of vaccines, likely to be a compliment in livestock production, is not associated with cooperative capacity.