Dynamics of investment in agriculture in Burkina Faso

Because of rapid urbanisation and increasing food price volatility, Burkina Faso was compelled to prioritise boosting rice production, leading to a ten-year rice development project (NRDS), commencing in 2009. During the project, the country's rice production was 3.2 times higher, on average, than the previous decade, while funding to agriculture increased by 210 per cent. This study concerns the dynamics of funding in influencing rice production according to their sources, by uniquely examining mediation effects through cropland extension, rice yield, worker productivity and land productivity. No significant difference between public and private funding are found. Official development assistance and remittance are fully mediated by cropland extension and worker productivity improvement, while other funds are partially mediated. The NRDS might do well to address the disclosed shortcomings in this study, for example, the stagnation of rice yields may deteriorate the food security of the poor.