Social Capital Effect on Rural Households' Food and Nutrition Security in North-Central Burkina Faso

This article focuses on the issues of food security which arise with acuteness in Burkina Faso. It investigated especially the influence of social capital on food and nutritional security of rural households in the north-central region of Burkina Faso. For this, the Catholic Relief Services database, collected in 2011 from a sample of 434 households, is used to construct the Food Consumption Score and two social capital indicators (cognitive and structural). A logistic model is then estimated and the results show that only the structural aspects of social capital strengthen households' food security. In particular, they show that households receiving transfers, who can count on the help of their relatives, and who participate in farmers’ organizations meetings are more likely to be food secure (OR = 1.959). Thus, to achieve food security, it is necessary to promote social support networks and strengthen farmers' organizations.