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Influence of agroforestry practices on the structure and spatiality of shea trees (Vitellaria paradoxa C.F. Gaertn.) in central-west Burkina Faso

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Abstract

This article examines the role of humans in shaping a shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa C.F. Gaertn.) population in Prata, central-west Burkina Faso. Four management regimes or land uses were considered: fields cultivated by indigenous Gurunsi farmers, fields cultivated by migrant Moose farmers, fallows, and bush lands. The structure of the shea population differed between Gurunsi and Moose fields and between these fields and fallow and bush lands. The size class distribution of V. paradoxa in fallows and bush lands was skewed towards the lower classes and the slope of the distributions was negative and significant, indicating the occurrence of recruitment. In comparison, Gurunsi fields carried young and mature trees with 95 % of individuals in the 15.5–90 cm range, whereas Moose fields carried no specimen with dbh <16.5 cm. The slope of the size class distribution was slightly negative for Gurunsi fields and slightly positive for Moose fields, but non significant in both cases. Vitellaria paradoxa densities did not significantly differ between Gurunsi (35 stems/ha) and Moose (26 stems/ha) fields, but were higher in fallows (172 stems/ha) and in the bush (161 stems/ha) than in cultivated fields. Nearest neighbour distances were progressively greater from uncultivated fields to Gurunsi and finally Moose fields, whereas shea trees were increasingly aggregated from Moose to Gurunsi fields to fallows and bush lands. In Prata, shea tree management is thus associated with ethnicity and/or with a host/migrant status that confers different farm sizes and levels of tenure security to farming households. Gurunsi and Moose farmers cited productivity, spacing and shading effects as the main factors influencing their decision to conserve specific shea trees in their fields. Results signal favorable prospects for V. paradoxa regeneration in Prata’s fallows and bush lands and to a lesser extent in Gurunsi fields.

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Notes

  1. These countries include Benin, Ghana, Chad, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea-Conakry, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya (Hastkevich et al. 2011).

  2. High V. paradoxa mortality rates in Burkina Faso have been ascribed to the semi-parasitism of several vascular plant species belonging to the Loranthaceae family, including Agelanthus dodoneifolius, Tapinanthus globiferus, Tapinanthus ophiodes and Tapinanthus pentagonia (Ruyssen 1957; Bonkoungou 1987; Boussim et al. 1993a, b, 2004).

  3. Working in southern Mali and drawing from studies by Bonkoungou (1987), Delolme (1947), and Bagnoud et al. (1995) estimate a 6 mm annual increase in shea tree girth for individuals aged 0–40 years and a 4 mm increase in girth per year during the rest of the tree’s life cycle. Accordingly, they established the following dbh ranges for shea trees in cultivated fields: 10–20 cm at 17–35 years; 20–30 cm at 35–55 years; 30–40 cm at 55–80 years; 40–50 cm at 80–105 years; 50–60 cm at 105–130 years; 60–70 cm at 130–150 years; and 70–80 cm at 150–180 years.

  4. The Gurunsi presumption is accentuated by tensions straining the village’s indigenous-migrant relations.

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Acknowledgments

The author gratefully acknowledges the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada, and the International Development and Research Centre (IDRC) for funding this study. Heartfelt thanks are due to the farmers of Prata for participating in this study, and to Reid Cooper, Pamoussa Ouédraogo and Nassiratou Diasso Nébié for field assistance. Many thanks also to Luke Eades for his mapping work, to Sébastien Breau for statistical assistance, and to Sarah Turner, Jules Bayala, and an anonymous reviewer for providing insight into this study.

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  1. Anthropology Department, Pavillon Charles-De Koninck, bureau 3431 1030, avenue des Sciences-Humaines Université Laval, Québec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Marlène Elias

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Elias, M. Influence of agroforestry practices on the structure and spatiality of shea trees (Vitellaria paradoxa C.F. Gaertn.) in central-west Burkina Faso. Agroforest Syst 87, 203–216 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-012-9536-2

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