Analysis of Agroecological Innovations in Vegetable Farming in Burkina Faso

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Résumé

Agroecological innovation can support vegetable farmers in responding to climate change and market instability, yet such innovations remain insufficiently documented, limiting their wider adoption. This study analysed agroecological innovations observed on vegetable farms in Burkina Faso with the aim of supporting their scaling up. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 75 participants, comprising 67 producers and 8 key informants selected through purposive sampling. Data collection focused on changes in agroecological vegetable-farming activities, including production, resource management, and marketing. Thematic analysis was used to identify innovations, assess their adoption rates by locality, and establish a typology according to their intrinsic nature and intensity. A total of 32 innovations were identified across several activity areas. Adoption varied among localities in relation to the socio-economic and cultural realities of stakeholders. Technical innovations accounted for 53% of the identified innovations, while incremental innovations represented 87%. The predominance of technical innovations was associated with training provided by innovation-support services, whereas the high proportion of incremental innovations reflected the mobilisation and adaptation of endogenous knowledge under resource constraints. These findings indicate that agroecological innovation in the surveyed vegetable-farming systems is strongly rooted in locally available resources, knowledge, and gradual adaptation. Scaling up such innovations therefore requires approaches that are endogenised, or at least territorialised, so that they are compatible with local production conditions and can be more readily adopted by producers.

Mots-clés

Agroecology; innovation; endogenous knowledge; vegetable farming; Burkina Faso.