ADOPTION OF IMPROVED LAND-USE TECHNOLOGIES TO INCREASE FOOD SECURITY IN BURKINA-FASO - RELATING ANIMAL TRACTION, PRODUCTIVITY, AND NONFARM INCOME

This article analyzes the determinants of animal traction adoption, an d for traction and non-traction groups, the levels of land and labor p roductivity in Burkina Faso. There are three main conclusions. First, non-farm income was found to be an important indirect determinant of f arm productivity, and ability to intensify production, via its effect on animal traction adoption. This was, in particular, the case for the zone where agriculture commercialization is occurring (the Guinean zo ne). Second, in a region where farmers were traditionally and even tod ay thought to be tied to safety-first, subsistence strategies, our fin dings show that improved capital and variable inputs-traction and fert ilizer and manure, and even labor and best quality land-are applied on cash crops, not on subsistence crops. Third, animal traction greatly improves land and labor productivity, particularly in more favorable a groclimatic zones such as Burkina's Guinean zone, and in the 'intensif ication crops' that are also the main cash crops (maize and cotton). T raction farmers have an advantage in the quest to intensify farming in a region where population density is increasing rapidly. (C) 1998 Pub lished by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.