Irrigation and poverty: The case of the Office du Niger in Mali

Bélières, Jean-François; Hilhorst, Dorothea; Kébé, Demba; Keita, Manda Sadio; Keita, Souleymane; Sanogo, Oumar

doi:10.1684/agr.2011.0473

Cited by 23 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Drainage problems affect water management in the plot, which influences the "abundance of tillers per hill," weed management and fertilizer losses. Bélières et al (2011) showed that farmers' difficulties in accessing inputs, credit, and equipment, and constraints related to water management contribute to the drop in productivity in the Office du Niger area.…”

Section: Indirect "Factors"mentioning

confidence: 99%

Perception by farmers of the determinants of irrigated rice yield in Mali

Diawara

Dicko

Coulibaly

et al. 2018

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

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Recommendations for crop management are based on agronomic diagnoses of yield determinants at plot scale usually without the farmers being involved in the evaluation process. Farmers may consequently not apply the recommendations that do not account for their own perception of yield determination. We assumed that (i) farmers have their own perceptions of yield determination; (ii) it is possible to access these perceptions through individual discussions with farmers; (iii) subsequent group discussions allow knowledge to be exchanged between farmers and a common viewpoint to be reached; (iv) agronomists can use this common viewpoint as a basis for building improved solutions in collaboration with the farmers. In this study, we used participatory methods to identify and discuss the visual references the farmers consider the crop growth as indicators to forecast the yield of their plot and the drivers they think affect these indicators. The study was conducted in two sites in the Office du Niger irrigated rice scheme in Mali and comprised three steps: (i) individual discussions with rice producers about their perception of how yield is determined, (ii) group discussions to share their individual perceptions and reach a common viewpoint, (iii) analysis of these perceptions. Seven production indicators and 29 factors that may affect these indicators were identified. The three mains indicators used by farmers were tiller abundance, hill density, and grain weight per panicle. Crop practices and constraints may prevent farmers from achieving high yields, such as a delay in the supply of fertilizers or in crop establishment. They had a complex perception of yield determination that was often close to agronomic knowledge. Here we demonstrate for the first time that farmers in the Office du Niger scheme have technical knowledge to which extension services could refer to provide relevant advice and tools for managing their constraints and improving yield.

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Section: Indirect "Factors"mentioning

confidence: 99%

Perception by farmers of the determinants of irrigated rice yield in Mali

Diawara

Dicko

Coulibaly

et al. 2018

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

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“…Irrigation's positive impact on income is undeniable, despite the fact that poverty still needs to be alleviated in such irrigated areas, especially in sub-Saharan Africa (Bélières et al 2011). The flip side of this dependence on external sectors, on the other hand, is that farmers with irrigated lands enjoy a higher standard of living compared to those with rainfed systems, when supply and marketing conditions are favorable.…”

Section: Access To Water For Agriculture: Beyond Technologies Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Family Farming and the Worlds to Come

2015

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“…A lmost all farming units are family farms (Coulibaly, Bélières and Koné 2006;Bélières et al 2011) in which all (or nearly all) the agricultural work is performed by members of the manager's family. hey number between 22,635 (our estimate obtained by dividing the total irrigated area of the zone (86,201 ha) by the average size of family farms according to our survey (3.81 ha)) and 43,000 (Oice du Niger's estimate (2010), probably overstated as a farmer with land in two villages is counted twice, and some peasant families pretend to be separated in order to try to have access to more land).…”

Section: Family Farms Almost Exclusivelymentioning

confidence: 99%

Family Farms and Investment Capacities

Roudart¹,

Dave²

2014

World Food Policy

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This article aims to shed light on the conditions under which family farmers in developing countries could be able to invest and develop. This question is of particular interest in the Office du Niger area in Mali because, since 2006, the Malian government has been seeking to attract new investors there, under the assumption that they will be more able than family farmers to develop agriculture. On the other hand, the main union of family farmers in this area promotes investment by family farmers themselves. Based on the farming system concept, a thorough field survey was carried out, combining quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection and processing. The data analysis shows that access to properly irrigated land, and access to short and medium‐term credit to purchase inputs and equipment, are currently the main factors limiting farm productivity and investment capacities. The study suggests that for agriculture to develop in Mali, the peasant way is fully credible.

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Irrigation and poverty: The case of the Office du Niger in Mali

Cited by 23 publications

References 5 publications

Perception by farmers of the determinants of irrigated rice yield in Mali

Perception by farmers of the determinants of irrigated rice yield in Mali

Family Farming and the Worlds to Come

Family Farms and Investment Capacities

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