This paper takes up Burkina Faso, an inland country in West Africa, to analyze its long-term poverty dynamics. The poverty head count ratio among the sample households declined from 70% in 1980 to 50% in 2010. Agricultural income has increased in terms of not only real value, but also share in total household income. This implies that agriculture is the engine of poverty reduction, unlike the case of Asian economic development. Human capital had a positive impact on agricultural income in the past, but now there is no impact, But it has a positive impact on non-agricultural income. This suggests a beginning of shift from agricultural income to non-agricultural income as the main contributor of income growth.
