The research area of the CRSN is located in a district in northwest Burkina Faso, 300 km from the capital, Ouagadougou. It has about 90,000 inhabitants, settled over 1.775 Km². The Nouna area is a dry orchard savannah, populated almost exclusively with subsistence farmers of various ethnic groups. The area has a sub-Saharan climate, with a mean annual rainfall of 796 mm (range 483-1083 mm) over the past five decades.
