New land rules for a more agroecological land use in West Africa

Abstract

In villages and rural areas of West Africa, local authorities are considering how to reform land rules to reverse the mining of land use and to promote a more productive and sustainable agriculture. By recounting the experience of drawing up the land tenure charter of Koumbia county (located in western Burkina Faso), this paper offers some thoughts on: i) the reasons and ways to combine local knowledge and farmers practices with official land rules, ii) how to involve local stakeholders in developing a land charter to ensure its legitimacy and sustainability, iii) the interest of a charter to strengthen the association of agriculture and livestock (possibly local variant of agro-ecology). This experience has taught us the following: the introduction of more environmentally friendly agricultural practices in an area depends on the recognition of rules concerning land use, inspired by the desire to preserve and maintain natural resources.