Adaptable Livelihoods: wild foods, resilience and food security in rural Burkina Faso

by

Lucrezia TincaniSchool of Oriental and African Studies

University of London, UK.lucrezia.tincani@soas.ac.uk

How does seasonality affect the food security of the household?

What factors determine the adaptive capacity of the household over the seasons?

DRY SEASON RAINY SEASON

Sustainable Livelihoods FW

theory –> methods –> results –> implications

Panarchy Theory (ecology) Three properties determine the resilience of the system :

1. Diversity of livelihood strategies determines the number of alternative options

2. Adaptive capacity of livelihood strategies determines how reactive the system is to disturbances, based on whether individual strategies adapt a lot or a little

3. Connectivity determines the flexibility of the system: if strategies are highly connected, all strategies collapse as soon as one is affected (domino effect)

theory –> methods –> results –> implications

Holling, C. S. (2001) Understanding the complexity of economic, ecological, and social systems. Ecosystems 4: 390-405.

Fieldwork: Oct. 2009 - Dec. 2010

2 provinces in Burkina Faso

4 villages/province

2 family compounds/village

3 food security levels

TOTAL = 23 households = 97 adults

theory –> methods –> results –> implications

613mm/yr rainfall

921mm/yr rainfall

N.B. village selection was based on the project villages of TREEAID

MethodologyQuantitative cooking surveys%food* from home production (granary)%food purchased%food collected from forest areas (‘wild foods’)%food received from friends and relatives>> every 2 months (6 survey rounds) = 2x 3day recall

Triangulation for every adult in household Asset inventory (livestock & food reserves)Income, expenditureQualitative individual interviews on motivations, cultural norms…

* food = main cooked ingredient of a meal (no snacking)

theory –> methods –> results –> implications

Timing of the six survey rounds in both study locations.2009 2010

Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May June Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

NobéréS1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6

SéguénégaS1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6

How does seasonality affect the food security of the household?

What factors determine the adaptive capacity of the household over the seasons?

How successful is Panarchy Theory at capturing this adaptive capacity?

Research questions

theory –> methods –> results –> implications

Data analysisData entry and coding: Excel

Statistical analysis (non-parametric): STATA v.11

Definition of variables:

1. Diversity = diversity (Simpson’s diversity index) of food sources

2. Adaptive capacity = yearly st.dev. of food source contribution

3. Connectivity = yearly co-variance of food sources

theory –> methods –> results –> implications

(median data for households)

theory –> methods –> results –> implications

Results

S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S60%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%North

food receivedpurchase (men)granary (men)wild foodspurchase (women)granary (women)

survey roundsS1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%South

food receivedpurchase (men)granary (men)wild foodspurchase (women)granary (women)

survey rounds

theory –> methods –> results –> implications

.2.4

.6.8

1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6

North Southd

ivers

ity ind

ex

Graphs by siteBox plot of the diversity index, plotted over the six seasons, for each field site, indicating the median (white line), the inter-quartile range (grey box), the 95% confidence interval (hooked lines) and any outliers (grey dots).

theory –> methods –> results –> implications

Box plot of the diversity index, plotted over the six seasons, for Northern households with one or two wives.

Scatter plot of the median annual diversity index and the annual adaptation index (yearly st.dev.) , plotted for the Northern and Southern households.

Scatter plot of the median annual diversity index and the annual covariance index , plotted for the Northern and Southern households.

Ouedraogo, H. (2 wives)

Bilgo, A. & son (3 wives in total)

dec march may july sept dec0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Seasonal specialisation

Redundancy

Trends • Conservative vs. entrepreneurial households?• Splitting and merging of households?

theory –> methods –> results –> implications

Households can follow different trajectories to maintain their livelihood resilience

Need qualitative triangulationImplications for climate change adaptation?

theory –> methods –> results –> implications

Using Panarchy Theory to capture livelihood resilience?

Many thanks to…KIRAKOYA Aoua

BONKOUNGOU Aminata

lucrezia.tincani@soas.ac.uk

02

46

1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

North South

num

ber

of h

ouse

hol

ds

Graphs by site

02

46

8

0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3

North Southn

umb

er o

f hou

seh

olds

Graphs by site

Number of men per hh

Number of women per hh

AVERAGE = 1.5 men + 2.2 women per household