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Traditionally, cereal crop harvest residues are communally grazed by the ruminant herds of villagers and transhumant pastoralists in the agro-pastoral systems which predominate in the savannah zone of West Africa. We analysed the impact of the private use of crop residues by individual farmers on crop and livestock productivity at three scales: the field, farm, and village. We collected data in the village of Koumbia, located in the Sudanian region of Burkina Faso. Three types of farmers were identified: resource-poor farmers, predominantly livestock farmers, and resource-rich farmers. The trade-offs between different uses and users of cereal crop residues at the three scales were analysed through field surveys and a simple model of biomass flows. We considered current communal use practices and two alternative scenarios of private cereal crop residue use: (i) for composting (fertility scenario) and (ii) as fodder …