NTFP-substitutes of wild woody food species in two study villages (in study sites 5 and 7) of South-eastern Burkina Faso

Non-timber forest product (NTFP)-providing plant species contribute significantly to local livelihoods in West African savannas. The shortfall of NTFPs can therefore severely affect household livelihood maintenance in terms of food security, energy supply, medical care, animal husbandry, and financial means. Coping with these predicted negative changes will be a major challenge to the rural poor. It is therefore of particular importance to investigate whether and how a projected decrease of NTFPs could be counteracted. A first step is to identify the substitutes presently used by rural households to cope with a seasonal/temporary absence of NTFPs. It is furthermore crucial to investigate whether households have similar strategies to replace NTFPs or whether they differ with regard to their socio-economic conditions (e.g. ethnicity, household income). Enhancing the scientific record on coping strategies in West Africa, our studies present insights for important NTFP-providing woody species firstly looking at, the substitutes for these NTFPs used by interviewed households. Secondly, we investigated whether the choice in substitution of important NTFPs is related to social and spatial differentiations (e.g. ethnicity, income groups, and villages) in order to develop management strategies that are reliable for a specific region.