2.2 The village environment
Agricultural resource endowment and infrastructure determined the choice of the villages for this research. We selected three villages with relatively favourable agricultural endowments and two villages with poor agricultural endowments. Within agricultural endowment zones accessible and isolated villages were selected (cf. map in Appendix 1.1).
Three villages are located at about 200 km south west of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso in the Province des Bale.3 These villages are characterised by relatively favourable conditions for crop and animal husbandry. The average annual rainfall in this zone is about 1100 mm and drought risks are relatively limited. Soil quality is reasonable and land availability is good compared to other regions in Burkina Faso. Two villages (both are actually wards belonging to the village of Koho) in the southern zone are located at 5-7 km from the main road from Ouagadougou to Bobo-Diallasso and are serviced by frequent public transport connections to urban centres. Several regional markets are located at distances of 5-15 km. The villages are categorised as agriculturally resource-rich and accessible (RA1 and RA2). The other research village (Sayero) in the agriculturally resource-rich zone is located at about 25 km from the main road. Here also, regional markets are available at 5-15 km yet travelling time to these markets is longer compared to the situation in Koho. Land quality is similar to the village of Koho and land availability is slightly better. This village is categorised as
agriculturally resource-rich and isolated (RI). In both villages herder families (from the ethnic group of the Fulbe) exploit the surrounding pastures, which have relatively favourable conditions in terms of space and fodder quality.4 The other two villages of research are located at a distance of 100 km north of Ouagadougou and about 20-25 km from Kaya, the capital of the Province du Sanmentenga.5 Average annual rainfall is about 600 mm and there is, compared to the resource-rich villages, more variability of rainfall with respect to the onset of the rainy season, the occurrence and length of dry spells during the season, and total rainfall. Soils are of poor quality and the upland fields are heavily degraded. One village (Sidogo) in this zone is located at about 5 km from the main road from Ouagadougou to Kaya. There is an important regional market (Korsimoro) along this road, at a distance of 7 km from Sidogo. This village is characterised by a complete occupation of the arable land in the village area. There are no herder families resident in Sidogo. Sidogo is
categorised as agriculturally resource-poor and accessible (PA). The other village (Tagalla) in the agriculturally resource-poor zone is at a distance of about 25 km from Kaya. It is accessible first via a relatively good non-asphalt road and then via 7 km of tracks and pathways. Land availability is better than in Sidogo, yet also in this village most of the land is occupied and soils are heavily degraded. There are some Fulbe herder families resident in this village. Tagalla is
categorised as agriculturally resource-poor and isolated (PI). Comparative advantage in agricultural resource endowment and infrastructure is illustrated in Figure 2.2. The axes in Figure 2.2 are not scaled because at this level there is no precise
measurement of endowment or infrastructure. Current total household income, as observed in the research sample, serves as a proxy to position the villages in the graph of comparative advantage