Sustainable land use by women as agricultural producers? The case of Northern Burkina Faso

The objective of a field study conducted in Bam Province of Burkina Faso from 1992 to 1994 was to identify the influence of women's access to land and participation in new, resource-conserving land management technologies on their agricultural production. Based on farm surveys of 89 households women's land management practices and their contribution to total household production were analysed. Women's labour force invested in agricultural production on family and individual plots, women's labour employment in resource conservation and benefits from resource conservation on women's fields were assessed. Regarding land use arrangements the study shows that traditionally land allocation is based on collective, not individual use rights. Under this arrangement women in principle have the same access to land as other individual land users such as young unmarried men. Based on the results of the survey it appears that women receive land of less quality in terms of distance to home and less often plots with conservation works. There is however no discrimination concerning access to the most fertile lowland. Women's benefits from ameliorated family fields depend on the households sharing rules which are not yet fully understood. In summary, results of the study suggest that the sustainability of land use systems is not so much a question of access to land as determined by either traditional or modem land tenure arrangements, but rather of intra-household land allocation rules.