Perennial grain crops in the West Soudanian Savanna of Mali: perspectives from agroecology and gendered spaces

Abstract

Perennial grain crops may play an important role in environmentally sound and socially just food systems for Africa. We study the future possibility of integrating perennial grains into Malian farming systems from the perspective of agroecology, and more specifically using a gendered space approach. We interviewed 72 farmers across the sorghum-growing region of Mali. We found that perennial grains offer a vision for transforming human relations with nature that mirrors the resource sharing of customary land tenure, including patterns of extensive and intensive land use in time and space. Women interviewees identified a broad set of potential advantages and challenges to perennial grain production. Advantages include reduced labour, saving seed, and improving food security. Women farmers were concerned about livestock, water access, and resource limitations. We argue that perennial grains may increase access to land and natural resources for women farmers. Perennial grains may improve soil quality, reduce labour early in the rainy season, and provision more resources from fallow lands. Pastoralists stand to benefit from improved pastures in the dry season. We conclude that investments are needed to develop viable crop types in consideration of the complexity of West African farming systems and the local needs of women farmers and pastoralists.

New perennial grains in African smallholder agriculture from a farming systems perspective. A review

“…Uneven maturation, which poses challenges in large-scale mechanized agriculture, may be viewed differently by smallholders since this implies that labor needs for harvesting get distributed over time. In their study in Mali, Rogé et al (2017) however found that both men and women highlighted reduced labor requirements as the most important benefit when discussing the idea of growing perennial sorghum. Peter et al (2017:288) meanwhile are referring specifically to African smallholder contexts when they argue that perennial grains should mainly be promoted in "locations where labor constraints reduce agricultural system efficiency."…”

“…Decreasing farm sizes may furthermore render farms too small for investments in lower-yielding and less flexible land uses, in contrast to settings where farmers may have "marginal" portions of large landholdings. That said, in a study set in a sorghum-growing region of Mali, Rogé et al (2017) find perennial grains to be highly compatible with existing customary land tenure relations and the resourcesharing logic of existing land use.…”

“…As an integral part of smallholders' diversification strategies, livestock make important contributions to food security and income generation (Asante et al 2018). This can pose challenges for perennial cropping systems; in a study from Mali, Rogé et al (2017) found crop damage caused by livestock to be one of the main concerns expressed by farmers when discussing the integration of perennial grains. An interview study with maizegrowing farmers in Malawi arrived at similar findings (Rogé et al 2016).…”

“…Due to the risk of significant damage, Grabowski et al (2019:91) assume in their choice experiments on perennial pigeon pea that farmers would only plant this crop "where livestock and wildlife would not consume it." On the other hand, Rogé et al (2017) also point to the potential to develop perennial sorghum that can withstand grazing pressure, something that should be particularly attractive in areas where pastoralism is practiced. Furthermore, perennials tend to have a higher amount of non-grain biomass than most annuals, which can be used as livestock feed (Snapp et al 2018).…”

Pathways for the Amplification of Agroecology in African Sustainable Urban Agriculture

“…A study examining the concept of coproduction of knowledge analyzed how small farmers know, perceive, share, and apply knowledge of a changing climate and which resources they access for agroecological methods in this context [27]. In Mali [28], the cultivation of perennial cereals has allowed farmers to spend less on seeds. Food security improvements could be an important instrument in increasing female farmer's access to land and to natural resources, as well as improving soil quality, reducing labor at the beginning of the rainy season, and yielding more resources from uncultivated land.…”