Social Capital and Farmers’ Adaptations Strategies to Climate Change in Burkina Faso

Abstract

Farmers in Burkina Faso are highly vulnerable to climate change, as their livelihoods are greatly linked to climate hazards. The adaptation of farmers to climate change is therefore an important issue that requires proper attention. Increasingly, in addition to human and physical capital, social capital is acknowledged to be of critical importance in farmers’ decision-making. Farmers’ social capital may affect their decisions though different mechanisms, such as information diffusion and reduction of collective action dilemmas, affecting transactions costs and increasing risk mitigation. Farmers’ ability to act collectively determines their ability to adapt. The existing studies in the literature of farmers' adaptation to climate change/climate variability in Burkina Faso have, however, paid relatively little attention to the effect of farmers’ social capital in their decision-making process. This thesis incorporates recently introduced behavioral economics concepts such as trust, solidarity, and reciprocity into the analysis. The aim of this study is to examine factors that influence rural households’ decisions to deal with climate change and climate variability in Burkina Faso, with a particular emphasis on the role of farmers’ social capital in their decision. The specific objectives of the study are to analyze the effect of rural households’ cognitive social capital (cooperation, trust and solidarity) and structural social capital (membership in social groups, kinship and friendship networks in the community) on their decision-making process; to study the role of farmers’ perceptions of climate change on their adaptation decisions; and to examine the effect of farmers’ geographical position on their response to climate hazards. Primary data was collected through village focus-group surveys and household surveys. Twelve Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted in the study areas’ villages; 450 households were also selected randomly from three locations and sampled out through a multi-stage sampling procedure. Secondary data on the historical precipitation and temperature of Burkina Faso from 1960 to 2012 was obtained from the National Meteorological Service of Burkina Faso (DGM) and the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute. In order to achieve our objective, we used three approaches. In the first approach, we analyzed the determinants of farmers’ perception and adaptation decisions to climate change using a Heckman probit model. The analysis of farmers’ perception to climate change revealed that the age of the household head, gender, the participation index, the number of relatives, the distance to market, and the fertility of the soil all significantly impact a farmer’s awareness of climate change. In addition, factors such as the age of the household head, household size, other assets, landownership, non-farm income, extension services, local agro-ecological settings, farm location, and the number of friends and relatives were also found to significantly and positively impact on farmers’ adaptation to climate change. Farmers’ decisions are highly related to their perceptions, and thus the transmission of climate information and knowledge to farmers most likely improves their decision-making. In the second approach, we investigated the effect of social capital on farmers’ choice of adaptation measures using a multivariate probit model. We found that the effect of social capital depends on the type of indicator used and on the type of adaptation strategies necessary. Farmers’ kin networks in the village positively affect their choice of new varieties and conservation tillage, and negatively affect the use of changing their planting date strategy. Farmers who have more kin networks outside the village are more likely to invest in soil and water conservation techniques (SWCT) and other techniques such as agroforestry and irrigation. Farmers who have more friends in the village, on the other hand, are also more likely to invest in soil and water conservation techniques, but are less likely to adopt the strategy of crop diversification. Household heads who belong to groups and farmers’ associations are more likely to change their planting date and to use other strategies such as agroforestry, the reduction of farm size, irrigation, and to abandon agriculture for other activities. Social capital does not, however, have any effect on the use of organic matter. In the third approach, we applied a Generalized Poisson Regression (GPR) to determine the effect of the different forms of social capital on the extent and intensity of adaptation measures taken by farmers to cope with climate change. The results showed that social capital variables (structural and cognitive social capital) were positively associated with the number of strategies used by farmers, but that their effects on the size of the adapted plot used were not significant