Draft Animal Power at the Core of Strategies of Family Farms in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

A comparative analysis was carried out on the use of draft animal power in three contrasted situations: the groundnut basin of Senegal, North-Cameroon, and Eastern Burkina Faso. The objective was to characterize draft animal power within farms. In each situation, data were collected according to specific methods and tools, and with the collaboration of various partners, but they did not allow for comparisons between the three countries. In any case, the analysis shows that farmers’ access to animal draft is often a difficult and step by step project. The first step is the acquisition of draft animals, which can require years of effort. The introduction of animal traction leads to major changes in the production system of farmers who need to find a balance between land and energy availability, and manpower. The use of animals helps expand cultivated areas and develop crop/livestock integration. It changes the work organization and distribution, and generates new incomes. Finally, it creates new tasks related to husbandry activities, which thus lead to more expenses from farmers. At the farm level, analyses show that farmers acquire implements in various ways and therefore use various strategies in order to have access to and retain animal traction. They also confirm the central role of animal traction in the life cycle of the farms. At the village level, they show the determining role of work and land exchanges among farms in the process of animal traction acquisition. This process is at an advanced stage in the Senegalese groundnut basin and at an earlier stage in Eastern Burkina Faso and North-Cameroon. It is essential to assist these processes. Priorities must be given to the acquisition of draft animals for unequipped farmers in Eastern Burkina Faso and North-Cameroon, and to taking sustainable measures in all three countries studied, particularly in Senegal: diversified activities, technique control, area-specific innovations.