Effects of local institutions on the adoption of agroforestry innovations: evidence of farmer managed natural regeneration and its implications for rural livelihoods in the Sahel

Abstract

The present study aims at (1) assessing how the existing local formal and informal institutions affect farmer managed natural regeneration (FMNR) practices and, (2) evaluating the benefits of such practices on livelihoods. The propensity score with continuous treatments was used to assess the effects of a set of covariates on FMNR as well as the impacts of that practice on income, cereal production and caloric intake using data collected from 1,080 rural households in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Senegal. This study demonstrated that regeneration of trees on farms, whereby farmers play an active role in the types of trees and their densities, is important as a practice and safety-net by providing cash income, caloric intake and diet, and crops supplements throughout dryland areas of West Africa. Overall, FMNR cannot be excluded as a recommendation in any geographical region. In addition, the study concludes that the effects of institutions in fostering FMNR practices in the Sahel are mixed. In areas with well-structured formal and informal institutions, populations seem to have adopted a better collaboration attitude with the local government by developing plans for a good management and protection of natural resource including FMNR practices. However, in areas where these commissions are being assimilated to governmental institutions, the willingness to raise incentives towards a better management of natural resources is less perceived. While recognizing the benefits of trees and tree products on caloric intake and diet, there is a need to explore in much more details, the FMNR-food nexus in future researches by going beyond what was covered from this study.

Proceso de adopción de árboles en áreas ganaderas: estudio de casos en Chiapas, México

“…En otras palabras, estas prácticas organizativas crean normas subjetivas que pueden favorecer la introducción y persistencia de una nueva conducta (Ajzen, 2012;Ramos-Pérez et al, 2016). Binam et al (2017) añaden que en áreas donde hay instituciones formales e informales bien estructuradas, existe mayor voluntad de colaboración con el gobierno local y, en lo que nos interesa, favorecen una mejor gestión y protección de los recursos naturales.…”

“…Fue del conocimiento común, que el crecimiento desmedido de algunos pastos introducidos como M. maximus y nativos como Paspalum plicatulum, forman "zacatonales" y "pajonales" respectiva-mente, que no permiten la RN y pueden propiciar incendios. Para controlarlos recomendaron el uso correcto de quemas junto con el pastoreo oportuno, como lo sugieren Binam et al (2017). El correcto uso de las quemas implica aplicarlas cuando los pastos todavía están húmedos -llamada "quema fría"-y no bajo condiciones de sequía o viento, la construcción de brechas y vigilancia.…”

“…proponen Griscom et al (2009). En Frailesca el adoptante entrevistado reportó que la división de potreros en pequeñas áreas o corredores y su uso en pastoreo rotativo (PR) beneficia la RN; mismo manejo que recomiendan Binam et al (2017). Según Jacobo et al (2006), el PR permite mejor control de densidad del ganado y menos pisoteo y ramoneo de plántulas.…”

“…La adopción de árboles en unidades productivas puede ser un proceso complejo en donde intervienen factores ambientales y socioculturales a diferente escala; desde la vegetación circundante, tamaño de la unidad, prácticas de manejo, infraestructura, hasta edad y escolaridad del productor, apoyos e incentivos recibidos, e instituciones organizativas (p.ej. Zepeda-Cancino et al, 2016;Binam et al, 2017). Sin embargo, los resultados de muchos estudios respecto a los factores influyentes en la adopción se contradicen, especialmente por su enfoque metodológico y por no considerar las percepciones intrínsecas (conciencia ambiental) del productor (Baumgart-Getz et al, 2012).…”

Influences of Value Perception on Farmers’ Technology Adoption Tendency and Conditional Response-Based on the Micro Data of 338 Farmers

“…Researchers have done a lot of discussions on farmers' technology knowledge, evaluation and adoption. The research focuses on the following aspects: farmers' motivation and willingness to adopt technologies, including their demands for specific crop technologies and the sequence of these demands (Man et al, 2011;Lu et al, 2011), and the influencing factors to farmers' willingness to adopt technologies (Yu et al, 2013;Awotide et al 2016); the influencing factors to technology adoption, including policy, economic level, geographical environment, individual characteristics and other micro-environments (Zhao et al, 2012;Zhu et al, 2015;Binam et al 2017;Bandewar et al 2017); the relationship between farmers' perception of climate changes and technology adoption (Deng et al, 2012;Jin Leshan et al, 2014;Simtowe et al 2018). The research on farmers' behaviours from the perspective of perception more focuses on other aspects, such as farmers' perceptions of agricultural risks and the influencing factors thereto (Ye et al, 2014), the relationships between government behaviours and farmers' insurance awareness and decisions and between agricultural insurance and farmers' livelihood (Zong et al, 2014;Tian et al, 2015) as well as the value of the conversion from farmland to nonfarm land (Ma et al, 2016), perception and action of homestead exit (Zhu et al, 2016) and the expectations for the benefits of rural tourism and cultural heritage protection (Zhang et al, 2017).…”