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The study focuses on economic and food security implications of projected climate change on Malian agriculture sector. Climate change projections made by two global circulation models are considered. The analysis focuses on the effects on crops, forages, and livestock and the resultant effects on sectoral economics and risk of hunger in Mali. Results show that under climate change, crop yield changes are in the range of minus 17% to plus 6% at national level. Simultaneously, forage yields fall by 5 to 36% and livestock animal weights are reduced by 14 to 16%. The resultant economic losses range between 70 to $142 million, with producers gaining, but consumers losing. The percentage of population found to be at risk of hunger rises from a current estimate of 34% to an after climate change level of 64% to 72%. A number of policy and land management strategies can be employed to mitigate the effects of climate change. In particular, we investigate the development of heat resistant cultivars, the adoption of existing improved cultivars, migration of cropping pattern, and expansion of cropland finding that they effectively reduce climate change impacts lowering the risk of hunger to as low as 28%.

Cation‐exchange capacity (CEC) is an important soil property in describing nutrient availability for plant growth. Measurements of CEC, however, are often not available or have been measured using different analytical methods. The need, therefore, exists to develop alternative procedures to predict CEC from accessory soil properties. In this study, regression analysis was used to examine the relationships between CEC and clay (CLAY), organic carbon (OC), and other soil properties. Multiple regressions indicated that CLAY, OC, and soil pH accounted for up to 51% of the variation in CEC for all soil (n = 37921). For soil orders, CLAY and OC accounted for up to 67% of the variation in CEC for Alfisols, Inceptisols, Mollisols, and Vertisols, and up to 78% of the variation in CEC for Entisols and Spodosols. The OC alone accounted for up to 73% of the variation in CEC for Spodosols. Poor predictions of CEC resulted from CLAY for Aridisols and Vertisols, indicating that factors other than CLAY interfered with accurate predictions of CEC.

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