Burkina Faso, known as Upper Volta until its independence from France in 1960, and locally called the "land of the upright people," is a medium-sized land-locked country with no less than six neighbors, some of which periodically get into trouble... which makes it reasonably strategic in some ways. While it has not done as poorly as some other African states, its economic has certainly not prospered and many Burkinabe go abroad to earn a living. As for politics, it is another case of stability without democracy, even if there are periodic elections. Still, this is better than not even having stability. This third edition of Historical Dictionary of Burkina Faso covers its history through a chronology, an introductory essay, maps, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1000 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Burkina Faso.

This atlas describes the West African region, its population, settlement, territories, its economy and its vulnerabilities. It analyses the developments and the ways in which West Africa is conforming to a constantly changing global environment.

First published in 1999, this volume emerged in the context of a recent willingness to understand what Africa’s peasant farmers are designing and building in their local landscapes, in contrast to the meta-narratives which were relatively distant from the lives and livelihoods of Africans. Based on author Chris Howorth’s fieldwork as a UNAIS technical assistant, this book combines academic rigour with a commitment to participatory development action and encourages interaction between universities and field agencies for understanding the landscape. The first part of the book explores the efficiency of peasant modes of production. This is followed by culturally locating production patterns along with three village case studies in the province of Sissili: Lon, Boutiourou and Saboué. Building on ecological and farming systems research in these three villages, Howorth examines the case in Burkina Faso, analysing environmental land management strategies.

The change in name from Upper Volta to Burkina Faso has mirrored equally important changes in the country's lifestyle. Yet despite numerous military and civilian governments since 1960, Burkina Faso still faces many of the same challenges it confronted decades ago: malnutrition, drought, lack of natural resources, debt, and the difficulties of industrial development in a region that is often unstable. At the same time, the people of Burkina Faso prove to be hard working and resourceful, and have persevered through many harsh conditions, and continue to improve the standard of living in their nation. The Historical Dictionary of Burkina Faso is the second edition of Daniel McFarland's Historical Dictionary of Upper Volta from 1978. As with the earlier edition, this volume provides information on important persons, places and events, political parties, government organizations, economy, and culture. Most importantly, new entries update information on occurrences in the twenty years that have intervened between the two volumes, providing perspectives on recent social, international, political, and cultural issues. The book also includes a detailed chronology of the history of Upper Volta/Burkina Faso, from precolonial times to the current changes in governmental structure and Burkina Faso's relationship to other countries in the region, many in similar situations. The bibliography in the current edition contains 1300 entries, more than one-third in English, versus the 600 entries found in the 1978 edition, and increases the number of English language sources considerably. With such a substantial revision, scholars and librarians will find the Historical Dictionary of Burkina Faso a major addition to their collection. The expansion in resources and materials of interest, as well as the chronological and governmental updates, make this new edition an unavoidable part of any complete collection.

As part of its efforts to improve fertilizer use and efficiency in West Africa, and following the recent adoption of the West African fertilizer recommendation action plan (RAP) by ECOWAS, this volume focuses on IFDC's technical lead with key partner institutions and experts to build on previous and current fertilizer recommendations for various crops and countries in West Africa for wider uptake by public policy makers and fertilizer industry actors.