Determinants and Effects of Income Diversification amongst Farm Households in Burkina Faso

Despite recurrent crop failures, there is evidence that households in the West African Semiarid Tropics (WASAT) are still able to assure their food security. This article explores two issues: 1) Does WASAT household income diversification (that is, earning noncropping income in addition to, or as a substitute for, cropping income) resolve this paradox? 2) What is driving the diversification, and how do these factors differ over rich and poor households, and agroclimatically good and poor agroecological zones? Data are derived from the farm household survey in Burkina Faso conducted by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). The survey covered four harvest years (1981/82-1984/85). The sample included 150 households in the following three agroecological zones: the Sahelian, the Sudanian, and the Guinean. Harvest shortfalls and terms of trade are found to drive diversification, but land constraints do not. Income diversification is associated with higher incomes and food consumption, and more stable income and consumption over years. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum.