In Ziguéna terroir, the combined effects of drought and anthropogenic actions led to the widespread degradation of vegetation cover and of land. This work aimed at characterizing the dynamics of land use and land cover in relation to anthropogenic pressures in Ziguéna terroir. The methodology consisted in identifying and characterizing land use and land cover classes. Landsat images for the years 1986 and 2013 and population data for the years 1987, 1998 and 2009 were used. Visual interpretation of the images and post-classification comparison of the results were used to generate land use and land cover classes and calculate their rate of change. The results reveal that the natural vegetation has lost 55% of its original coverage (1514.3 ha) between 1987 and 2013. During the same period, the agricultural area increased by 47% (1608 ha). The projection of land use and land cover classes predicted an increase of agricultural land of about 34.60% by year 2030 compared to its coverage of year 2013 (+1191.03 ha) at the expense of natural vegetation which will lose about 40.63% of its coverage (-1121.70 ha). The dynamics of agricultural land is strongly linked to population growth rates with a correlation coefficient r equal to 0.99. This confirms a strong anthropogenic influence on land use and land cover dynamics. The results show the usefulness of remote sensing for mapping land use and land cover. Nevertheless it would be interesting to take into account the socioeconomic aspects for proper understanding of the dynamics.

The diversity of cropping systems and varieties plays an important role in the ability of family farms to resist socio-economic and environmental shocks. For better conservation, agricultural diversity needs to be characterized and monitored in space and time. While initially dominated by the elements on price, surfaces, and productions, agricultural monitoring systems have recently incorporated diversity issues. The objective of this work is to analyze the spatial structure of agricultural biodiversity and to explain the links between this structure and the agronomic practices and results in family farms in southern Mali. The methodology was to develop, test, and maintain a conceptual model of spatial data on a sample of three villages. The analysis of these data is based on the spatial distribution of biodiversity and its correlation with the practices and agro-ecological conditions, results, and agronomic performance. The results show a very large specific and varietal diversity. We do not observe a clear link between spatial distribution and the characteristics of the physical environment, with the exception of the improved variety of Kalafoufigue located on a particular type of slope. The same observation is made when the relationship is between the spatial distribution of the variety and the technical route. Spatial analysis has developed a map of the diversity across the country village. Thus, spatial distribution points plot a surface distribution across local villages, and these results open the way for greater contributions of geographical analysis in agriculture and for scaling territories that remain a challenge for agriculture.

Sudanian zone is one of the regions in West Africa most confronted with high climate variability, challenging agricultural sustainability and rural livelihoods. Despite multiple research efforts devoted to exploring how farmers in this region perceive climate variability and how perceptions relate to adaptive responses, much remains to be done. This study examined farmers’ perception of climate variability compared with scientific evidence in the terroir of Benguene, between 1983 and 2018. Data was collected from twenty-nine (29) farmland heads (representing 49% of the total farmland heads in the village) through a survey conducted in October 2019. Monthly temperature data from ground measurement and daily rainfall data extracted from the gridded African Rainfall Climatology version 2 (ARC-2) time series was used. Descriptive statistic was used to analyse survey data. Climate data analysis included Mann Kendall trend analysis and computation of growing season parameters (Onset, Duration and Cessation) and its trend. In the end, a conformity index was used to compare farmers’ perceptions to climatological evidence. Conformity graph showed that apart from temperature, the farmers have low, to a weak perception of the other variables used to assess their perception. Results showed that many smallholder farmers have observed a rise in temperature (90%), delay onset (93%) and early cessation (93%) of rainfall. The analysis of the climate data showed high variability in the climate during the study period as observed in the increasing trends in temperature (p-value of 0.0007) and in the rainfall (p-value of 0.0001). Concerning the season parameters, the results show increasingly early-onset (June 1st ± 22 days) increasingly late cessation (October 09th ± 14 days) and consequently a long duration of the rainy season (130 ± 27 days). Conversely, farmers thought the opposite. These results imply the urgent need to increase smallholder farmers awareness of climate variability and change by providing climate information for better adaptation

In Mali the management of rural area in the cotton belt has become more complex. It presents social, economic, ecological and cultural issues. Indeed, the increasing numbers of actors due to migration and population growth, as well as the emergence of new agricultural systems have created new dynamics in terms of companies and natural resources management. This work aimed at analysing the functioning of territories and actors through their social organisation and resource management strategies in the villages of Nafègué, Benguéné and Ziguéna. The methodology used was based on direct observation and qualitative surveys with several categories of actors identified using a diagnostic tools. The results show that the management of associations and cooperatives is identical in all the three villages. They are in principle independent from each other and have a freedom of action. However, there are mutual aid relations between the different associations. At village scale, land management follows similar principles. The land is under the responsibility of the village head, but there are often land owners. Nowadays, because of land pressure resulting from population growth and agricultural activities, land issue has become one of the biggest concern land access rules more complex. These facts require new collective processes for natural resource management.