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| Title: | The Cultural Economy of Soil and Water Conservation: Market Principles and Social Networks in Eastern Burkina Faso |
| Authors: | Mazzucato, Valentina Niemeijer, David |
| Year: | 2000 |
| Periodical: | Development and Change |
| Volume: | 31 |
| Issue: | 4 |
| Period: | September |
| Pages: | 831-855 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Burkina Faso |
| Subjects: | social networks subsistence economy water management soil fertility Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment Economics and Trade Development and Technology |
| External link: | https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-7660.00179 |
| Abstract: | This paper draws on a case study carried out among Gourmantché farmers from two villages in eastern Burkina Faso - one in Gourma province and one in Gnagna province - to explore an area usually ignored by soil and water conservation studies - the role of social institutions in guiding decisions regarding the use of technologies. It looks at soil and water conservation through the historical development of what the authors call the 'cultural economy', that is, a system of exchange in which a market economy has mixed with pre-existing forms of exchange. The paper shows that social networks have changed in their uses and composition. In particular, with respect to agriculture, networks are increasingly being used for cultivation purposes. The analysis of the cultural economy shows that social networks provide the flexibility that allows farmers to choose from a repertoire of technologies. This flexibility has contributed to a cultivation system that has been able to adapt to changes without needing to resort to extreme measures such as soil mining. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. |
