INVESTIGATION OF THE LACK OF MIXED FARMING IN THE WEST AFRICAN SAVANNAH : A FARM SYSTEM APPROACH FOR TENKODOGO, UPPER VOLTA

Farm practices data such as labor flows, land use patterns, outputs, cattle labor requirements, and ownership patterns, are employed to test a hypothesis explaining why farmers prefer to entrust their cattle to Fulani herdsmen living outside the village. A linear programming model, incorporating 11 crop and two small stock activities and constructed from the data, is described. The model is used to identify optimal production strategies and resource constraints under different assumptions involving farmers" desires for self-sufficiency in food grains. Includes discussion, data, and illustrations regarding arguments for and against the problem; labor use by sample farms; land, capital, and farm output; farm production models; results and conclusions; and policy recommendations.