Market gardening exploitations in the lowland of sourgou-center: between variability in farming practices, land precarity, spatialenvironmental inequalities, and producers’ adaptation strategies

Resumen

In the center of the commune of Sourgou, market gardening is developed during the dry season, facilitated by the development of the Sourgou-center dam and the presence of wetlands along the lowland area. Based on a literature review combined with quantitative and qualitative data collected from market garden producers and landowners in the Sourgou-center lowland, this article analyzes the principles of development, the inequalities resulted from market gardening and identifies the various adaptation strategies used by farmers to tackle land insecurity in the research area. A total of 143 farmers, 08 landowners and 08 heads of market garden producers' associations were interviewed. The results of the survey show that the land in the Sourgou-center lowland is used for market gardening by native populations (64.11 %) and non-native populations (35.89 %). Market gardening generated inequality within the market gardening sites of the Sourgou lowlands, reflected in plot size (23.12 %), and segregation in terms of spatial or environmental occupation into producer subgroups based on residence or autochthony (75.14 %). Plots smaller than 0.18 ha are farmed more by non-landowning farmers, while larger plots (larger than 0.18 ha) are farmed by landowners or farmers from their family. In addition, the precarious nature of market gardening is reflected in the size of the plots and the principles and rules governing the development of market gardening land in the research area. The strategies developed by producers and especially landless people to tackle the precarious land tenure and exploitation in the area under investigation include respect for the principles and rules of exploitation (FRC= 0.81), operating plots within solidarity groups (FRC= 0.69), respecting landowners and market-gardening group leaders (FRC= 0.28), indirect tenancy (FRC= 0.17) and choosing to operate plots on different market-gardening sites (FRC= 0.02).

Keywords: Market gardening; Sourgou-center lowland; spatio-environmental inequality; land insecurity; adaptation strategy; Burkina Faso