Degradation of water resources in rural Burkina Faso: drivers, local perceptions and solutions.

Burkina Faso reformed its water management institutions and adopted integrated water resources management (IWRM) for more than two decades, yet the country still suffers from weak institutions and ineffective implementation of water management reforms. The key institutional question is: “How can IWRM reforms be adapted to increase effectiveness and sustainability of water management, and improve livelihoods of rural populations through increased participation of local stakeholders?” A key practical issue related to this bigger institutional question is to understand the barriers to adoption of good land and water management measures by riparian farmers and other land/water users, and the mechanisms to induce behavioral change among these users. Knowledge gaps exist in understanding the local perceptions and preferences of alternative management measures, and the incentive mechanisms to induce behavioral change. The aim of this study, which was part of a 3-year project entitled ‘Participatory planning for more inclusive and sustainable water management in rural Burkina Faso’, was to understand the perceptions, preferences and willingness of farmers and other land/water users to adopt environmentally friendly land and water management measures. The study also examined potential mechanisms that could induce riparian economic actors to adopt such measures

Les usagers de l’eau face à la dégradation des ressources : entre prise de conscience et volonté d’agir

Cette étude menée en 2018 dans trois régions du Burkina Faso avec l’appui de l’International Water Management Institute IWMI visait à comprendre les pratiques agricoles et de gestion des ressources naturelles, les choix ou préférences des usagers de ces ressources ainsi que les mécanismes pouvant les inciter à adopter des mesures de gestion plus respectueuses de l’environnement. Selon ses résultats, beaucoup sont conscients de la raréfaction et de la dégradation de la qualité des ressources et en identifient des causes. Les usagers interrogés se sont dit prêts à adopter des mesures de gestion, y compris à travers une contribution financière

Can biogas digesters help to reduce deforestation in Africa?

Acknowledgements The authors are grateful for financial support for this work in part from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) New and Emerging Technologies Research Call, and in part from the EU under the REDD-ALERT (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation from Alternative Land Uses in Rainforests of the Tropics) project, Grant agreement number 226310. The authors thank Dr Hoang Viet Anh, Dr Suyanto and Mr. Gamma Galudra for their input on the manuscript.Peer reviewedPostprin

Synthesis, structural characterization, and ligand replacement reactions of gem-dithiolato-bridged rhodium and iridium complexes

The reaction of gem-dithiol compounds R2C(SH)2 (R = Bn (benzyl), iPr; R2 = −(CH2)4−) with dinuclear rhodium or iridium complexes containing basic ligands such as [M(μ-OH)(cod)]2 and [M(μ-OMe)(cod)]2, or the mononuclear [M(acac)(cod)] (M = Rh, Ir, cod = 1,5-cyclooctadiene) in the presence of a external base, afforded the dinuclear complexes [M2(μ-S2CR2)(cod)2] (1−4). The monodeprotonation of 1,1-dimercaptocyclopentane gave the mononuclear complex [Rh(HS2Cptn)(cod)] (5) that is a precursor for the dinuclear compound [Rh2(μ-S2Cptn)(cod)2] (6). Carbonylation of the diolefin compounds gave the complexes [Rh2(μ-S2CR2)(CO)4] (7−9), which reacted with P-donor ligands to stereoselectively produce the trans isomer of the disubstituted complexes [Rh2(μ-S2CR2)(CO)2(PR′3)2] (R′ = Ph, Cy (cyclohexyl)) (10−13) and [Rh2(μ-S2CBn2)(CO)2{P(OR′)3}2] (R′ = Me, Ph) (14−15). The substitution process in [Rh2(μ-S2CBn2)(CO)4] (7) by P(OMe)3 has been studied by spectroscopic means and the full series of substituted complexes [Rh2(μ-S2CBn2)(CO)4−n{P(OR)3}n] (n = 1, 4) has been identified in solution. The cis complex [Rh2(μ-S2CBn2)(CO)2(μ-dppb)] (16) was obtained by reaction of 7 with the diphosphine dppb (1,4-bis(diphenylphosphino)butane). The molecular structures of the diolefinic dinuclear complexes [Rh2(μ-S2CR2)(cod)2] (R = Bn (1), iPr (2); R2 = −(CH2)4− (6)) and that of the cis complex 16 have been studied by X-ray diffraction.The financial support from Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (MEC/FEDER) Project CTQ2006-03973/BQU is gratefully acknowledged. A. B. R. thanks the Programa Iberoamericano de Ciencia y Tecnología para el Desarrollo (CYTED) for a fellowship. Also, A.B. R. and A.J. P. thank to Fonacit-Venezuela (S1-2002000260) for financial support.Peer Reviewe

Does Participation in Agribusiness Empowerment Programmes Improve Youth Business Performance? Evidence From Kenya and Uganda

This study addresses the gap in understanding the impact of agribusiness empowerment programmes on youth business performance in developing countries, taking the case of the ENABLE-TAAT programme in Kenya and Uganda. A multistage sampling technique was used in obtaining primary agribusiness-level data from a sample of 1003 young agripreneurs from the study countries. An Endogenous Treatment Effect Regression (ETER) model was used to identify factors influencing programme participation and impact on youth agribusiness performance. Results show that marital status, agribusiness experience, asset value, credit access, residence, programme awareness, and perception were the key factors that influenced participation decisions. Also, participation in the programme significantly increased youth’s agribusiness income by 7 percent with participants having higher asset value than non-participants. Based on these findings, we suggest policy interventions or programmes focusing on youth agribusiness empowerment, particularly those that target young actors along different agricultural value chains. We also suggest interventions geared towards mitigating constraints to credit access by young agripreneurs to ease barriers to working capital and business innovation. To increase access and participation, we recommend strategies to improve youth perception and raise awareness of these programmemes

Climate change, income sources, crop mix, and input use decisions: Evidence from Nigeria

This paper combines panel data from nationally representative household-level surveys in Nigeria with long-term satellite-based spatial data on temperature and precipitation using geo-referenced information related to households. It aims to quantify the impacts of climate change on agricultural productivity, income shares, crop mix, and input use decisions. We measure climate change in harmful degree days, growing degree days, and changes in precipitation using long-term (30 year) changes in temperature and precipitation anomalies during the crop calendars. We find that, controlling for other factors, a 15 percent (one standard deviation) increase in change in harmful degree days leads to a decrease in agricultural productivity of 5.22 percent on average. Similarly, precipitation change has resulted in a significant and negative impact on agricultural productivity. Our results further show that the change in harmful degree days decreases the income share from crops and nonfarm self-employment, while it increases the income share from livestock and wage employment. Examining possible transmission channels for this effect, we find that farmers change their crop mix and input use to respond to climate changes, for instance reducing fertilizer use and seed purchases as a response to increases in extreme heat. Based on our findings, we suggest policy interventions that incentivize adoption of climate-resilient agriculture, such as small-scale irrigation and livelihood diversification. We also propose targeted pro-poor interventions, such as low-cost financing options for improving smallholders’ access to climate-proof agricultural inputs and technologies, and policy measures to reduce the inequality of access to livelihood capital such as land and other productive assets