Crops-Livestock Integration as a Resilience Strategy to Climate Change in Burkina Faso
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Date
2023-07
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Abstract
This study titled addressed a topical issue of climate change and its impacts on
farmers' livelihoods and the role that an integrated crop-livestock system can play in
building resilient farmers and agricultural systems. The research first of all analysed
historical climate (rainfall, minimum and maximum temperature) trends across three
climatic zones Sudan (Dano), Sudan-Sahel (Niou) and Sahel (Dori)) at annual,
seasonal and decadal scales. Climates indices computation was done using the
package ClimPACT2 GUI in R software. Annual and seasonal climate were
compared using the independent t-test. Decadal climate indices were subjected to a
Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The research also analysed the susceptibility
or sensibility of crop production and livestock health to climate change. Thirdly, the
research developed and/or updated measurement tool known as Crop-Livestock
Integration (CLI) indicators for a holistic characterisation of integrated croplivestock
system. These indicators were developed based on the information from
589 farmers’ households and secondary data. Above ground, data were collected
from 4,733 trees over a total land area of 243.2 ha (80.1 ha, 78.8 ha and 84.3 ha in
Sudan, Sudan-Sahel and Sahel zones, respectively). Due to the Sahel zone's
insecurity, soil data could be collected only within Sudan and Sudan-Sahel zones. In
total, 120 composite soil samples were collected for this purpose and 240 other
samples for soil bulk density determination. Results revealed changes in climate
conditions, more pronounced in temperature variations than in rainfall. In the
Sudan-Sahel and Sahel zones, a re-wetting trends was observed over the last decade
supporting the re-greening hypothesis of the Sahel. Despite some positive effects of
the climate indices, crop failure was the major impact of climate pejoration across
iv
zones. Similarly, livestock health was majorly negatively affected by climate
deterioration though the resurgence of diseases due to climate change. Climate
indices could explain 23.0 - 50.2 % of the variations in crop yield and an increased
cases of livestock diseases occurrence by 1-9.4 units due to the deterioration in
climate conditions across climatic zones. Changes in climatic conditions may also
induce microbial proliferation and host susceptibility to result in the emergence,
redistribution, and changes in the incidence and intensity of pest infestations. The
study concluded that crop-livestock integration is underperforming in Burkina Faso
and can be improved. Majority farmers (91.6 %) in the Sudan-Sahel zone are
practising full crop-livestock integration, unlike the Sahel (62.3%) and Sudan
(48.2%) zones. However, only 14.8%, 10.5% and 5.1 % showed the effectiveness of
integration in the Sudan-Sahel, Sahel and Sudan zones, respectively. CLI was
comparatively more effective in Sudan-Sahel (65.9±32.0 %) than Sahel (44.9±29.5
%) and Sudan zones (35.6±35.0 %). Integration indicators were significantly
associated with farm emissions, productivity, biodiversity and soils nutrients. CLI is
also a tree-based system with high sequestration potential that could significantly
counterbalance the whole system emissions. However, the coverage of fodder needs
is negatively associated with soils nutrients content indicating field nutrient mining if
an appropriate scheme of nutrient return to the soils as manure is not set. An
adequate combination of CLI components offers an opportunity to build resilient
farming systems in Burkina Faso to adapt to the changing climate.