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This paper examines the evidence for land degradation in Burkina Faso, and argues that local farming practices are not as unsustainable and environmentally destructive as many reports suggest.Main findings of the study include:there is little evidence of widespread degradation of crop and fallow land in Burkina Faso; the low external input practices used by West African farmers are not leading to region wide land degradation processesa major reason for the overestimation of land degradation has been the underestimation of the abilities of local farmersthere is much more to soil and water conservation and technological intensification than agricultural statistics revealfarmers have developed flexible, efficient, and effective land management strategies to deal with the limited availability of labour and external inputs, as well as the harsh environment in which they workfarmers have been able to adapt their social institutions to accommodate opportunities for increased market activity as well as the constraints posed by increased natural resource scarcitysocial networks were found to contribute to agricultural production by enhancing people’s ability to cultivate in an environmentally sustainable way and give people the ability to access productive resources and avoid the poverty trapthe major challenge for future land degradation assessments will be to incorporate the effect of farm management practices, including their social and institutional dimensions, on soil loss, yields and nutrient budgets.[adapted from authors]
