Volker Stamm

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<b>
Intensification patterns in West African Agriculture:
        Social and Cultural Conditions and Constraints
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Pages 54 - 63


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In this paper, the problem of the social and cultural conditions
        and constraints of agricultural intensification in West Africa is addressed.
        I discuss, in an historical perspective, factors influencing the choice
        of more extensive or more intensive farming methods. Based on case studies
        from Burkina Faso, Benin and Nigeria, I reject the current opinion assuming
        a strong tendency towards more intensive practices under demographic pressure
        and defend the position that scarcity of soil resources may represent
        a challenge for peasant societies, but that their response may take significantly
        different forms, ranging from intensification, maintaining unsustainable
        intensive methods to abandoning agricultural activities to a greater or
        lesser degree. The option chosen depends largely on the historical background
        and the social orientations of the rural communities concerned; a key
        factor seems to be the importance they give to cultivation in their scale
        of cultural values.

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