Does land tenure security matter for household income diversification in Burkina Faso? Empirical evidence from a mixed process regression

---

Résumé

Income diversification is considered an important livelihood strategy for rural households in
agrarian economies, especially in contexts of erratic agricultural income. In this study, we investigate
whether land tenure security is a pull factor for household income diversification. Relying on survey
data collected from 1 852 rural households by the Burkina Faso Rural Development Program in
2017, and using a mixed process regression dealing with the endogeneity, we find evidence that land
tenure security stimulates household income diversification. The results also point out other factors,
including age, the ratio of active members in the household, access to infrastructure, farm size and
location in the Sudanian zone as drivers of household income diversification. This evidence calls for
the institutionalisation of land tenure security in order to improve rural households’ livelihoods and
suggests alternative, efficient measures for addressing land tenure insecurity challenges in rural
Burkina Faso.

Mots-clés

mixed-process regression, income diversification, land tenure security, livelihoods