Vegetable plots intercropped with agroforestry species (Bakary Coulibaly)

Combining agroforestry and gardening to rehabilitate barren lands: the case of the Benkadi cooperative of Syn village (Mali)

Combinaison de l’agroforesterie et du maraichage pour réhabiliter des terres dénudées (French)

Description

Through the installation of an irrigation scheme for market gardening combined with agroforesty, women’s production of trees and vegetables increases and infertile lands are restored.

An irrigation scheme for market gardening is installed on barren lands and agroforestry tree species are planted. The aim is to restore degraded lands by planting endemic trees like the baobab and néré, whose leaves and fruit are very commonly used for food and medicinal purposes.

The main objective of this activity is to improve women’s production of trees and vegetables, while ensuring infertile lands are restored. Market gardening also contributes to (i) raising farmers’ incomes through the production of peppers, okra and shallots, (ii) developing the shallot sector, and (iii) building farmers’ capacities.

The plot measures 100 by 100 metres. The planted and living species are: 60 baobab saplings (Adansonia digita), 120 papaya saplings (Carica papaya), 43 néré saplings (Parkia biglobosa), 26 lemon tree saplings (Citrus lemon), 2 tamarind tree saplings (Tamarindus indica), 21 grafted jujube saplings (Zizyphus sp). The vegetable beds are created in between the lines of trees. The vegetable growing site measures 105 by 100 metres (an area of 10,544 square metres). It is provided with farm equipment and machinery, including wells, distribution basins and wire fencing around the entire perimeter. It also contains: 9 Acacia albida saplings, 156 baobab saplings and 78 papaya saplings.
The vegetable growing season runs all year round and is divided into three crop productions. During the cold season from October to March, shallots are planted; in the hot season from March to June, okra is grown; and in the rainy season peppers are grown. Women work 100% of the site. There is a 90% adoption of the growing calendar. Okra and peppers benefit from fertiliser inputs and the techniques used for growing shallots.
Critical issues requiring attention are women’s poor access to the developed land and the scarcity of equipment, particularly for processing okra and shallots.

Located in the urban commune of Djenné, the ‘Benkadi’ cooperative was a beneficiary of SADeF funding in 2009/2010 (for its micro-project to develop a one-hectare market garden scheme). This cooperative was the product of the transformation of Syn women’s collective, which undertakes individual and collective activities, and focuses on the sustainable management of natural
resources. It was set up on 22 May 1998 and its headquarters are located in Syn. More than 130 women aged between 18 and 50 make up the cooperative, and nearly 30 cooperative members work the site. The main collective activities undertaken by the Syn-based ‘Benkadi’ cooperative company are: farming a biodiverse market garden plantation; operating a market garden; implementing a tontine (investment plan); fattening up livestock; growing ground nuts and tree growing; handicrafts. Concerns exist regarding enlarging and enhancing the site’s dewatering system to improve women’s accessibility to the developed land. Members are willing to provide at least 30 women to work the site each day.
SADeF’s installation of the market garden has enabled more than 100 women to take part in income-generating activities. The women have produced and traded: 20,069 kilograms of shallots per year; 150 x 100-kilogram sacks of peppers per year; 429 sacks of dry baobab leaves; 6,090 papaya fruits; 15,700 kilograms of okra. The output from the 2011 growing season made a profit of 12,242,620 CFA francs (23'690 Dollar).

Location

Location: Mali, Mali

No. of Technology sites analysed:

Geo-reference of selected sites
  • n.a.

Spread of the Technology:

In a permanently protected area?:

Date of implementation: less than 10 years ago (recently)

Type of introduction
Okra, pepper and papaya crops (Bakary Coulibaly)
Creating the planting beds (Bakary Coulibaly)

Classification of the Technology

Main purpose
  • improve production
  • reduce, prevent, restore land degradation
  • conserve ecosystem
  • protect a watershed/ downstream areas – in combination with other Technologies
  • preserve/ improve biodiversity
  • reduce risk of disasters
  • adapt to climate change/ extremes and its impacts
  • mitigate climate change and its impacts
  • create beneficial economic impact
  • create beneficial social impact
Land use
Land use mixed within the same land unit: Ja - Agroforestry

  • Cropland
    • Annual cropping
    • Perennial (non-woody) cropping: medicinal, aromatic, pesticidal plants - perennial
    • Tree and shrub cropping: papaya
    Number of growing seasons per year: 1

Water supply
  • rainfed
  • mixed rainfed-irrigated
  • full irrigation

Purpose related to land degradation
  • prevent land degradation
  • reduce land degradation
  • restore/ rehabilitate severely degraded land
  • adapt to land degradation
  • not applicable
Degradation addressed
  • soil erosion by water - Wt: loss of topsoil/ surface erosion
  • chemical soil deterioration - Cn: fertility decline and reduced organic matter content (not caused by erosion)
  • biological degradation - Bc: reduction of vegetation cover, Bs: quality and species composition/ diversity decline
SLM group
  • forest plantation management
  • agroforestry
SLM measures
  • vegetative measures - V1: Tree and shrub cover

Technical drawing

Technical specifications

Establishment and maintenance: activities, inputs and costs

Calculation of inputs and costs
  • Costs are calculated:
  • Currency used for cost calculation: CFA Franc
  • Exchange rate (to USD): 1 USD = 517.0 CFA Franc
  • Average wage cost of hired labour per day: n.a
Most important factors affecting the costs
SADeF funded site works to the tune of 18,212,000 CFA francs (35'258 Dollar). The labour contributed by beneficiaries to the installation works is estimated to represent 5% of this, i.e. 910,600 CFA francs. The village authority ceded the site (around a hectare) for the plantation.
Establishment activities
  1. vegetable beds are created in between the lines of trees, provided with farm equipment and machinery, including wells, distribution basins and wire fencing around the entire perimeter (Timing/ frequency: None)
  2. planting fruit trees and crops/vegetables (Timing/ frequency: None)
Establishment inputs and costs
Specify input Unit Quantity Costs per Unit (CFA Franc) Total costs per input (CFA Franc) % of costs borne by land users
Other
Total construction 1.0 35258.0 35258.0 100.0
Total costs for establishment of the Technology 35'258.0
Total costs for establishment of the Technology in USD 68.2
Maintenance activities
n.a.

Natural environment

Average annual rainfall
  • < 250 mm
  • 251-500 mm
  • 501-750 mm
  • 751-1,000 mm
  • 1,001-1,500 mm
  • 1,501-2,000 mm
  • 2,001-3,000 mm
  • 3,001-4,000 mm
  • > 4,000 mm
Agro-climatic zone
  • humid
  • sub-humid
  • semi-arid
  • arid
Specifications on climate
Thermal climate class: tropics
Slope
  • flat (0-2%)
  • gentle (3-5%)
  • moderate (6-10%)
  • rolling (11-15%)
  • hilly (16-30%)
  • steep (31-60%)
  • very steep (>60%)
Landforms
  • plateau/plains
  • ridges
  • mountain slopes
  • hill slopes
  • footslopes
  • valley floors
Altitude
  • 0-100 m a.s.l.
  • 101-500 m a.s.l.
  • 501-1,000 m a.s.l.
  • 1,001-1,500 m a.s.l.
  • 1,501-2,000 m a.s.l.
  • 2,001-2,500 m a.s.l.
  • 2,501-3,000 m a.s.l.
  • 3,001-4,000 m a.s.l.
  • > 4,000 m a.s.l.
Technology is applied in
  • convex situations
  • concave situations
  • not relevant
Soil depth
  • very shallow (0-20 cm)
  • shallow (21-50 cm)
  • moderately deep (51-80 cm)
  • deep (81-120 cm)
  • very deep (> 120 cm)
Soil texture (topsoil)
  • coarse/ light (sandy)
  • medium (loamy, silty)
  • fine/ heavy (clay)
Soil texture (> 20 cm below surface)
  • coarse/ light (sandy)
  • medium (loamy, silty)
  • fine/ heavy (clay)
Topsoil organic matter content
  • high (>3%)
  • medium (1-3%)
  • low (<1%)
Groundwater table
  • on surface
  • < 5 m
  • 5-50 m
  • > 50 m
Availability of surface water
  • excess
  • good
  • medium
  • poor/ none
Water quality (untreated)
  • good drinking water
  • poor drinking water (treatment required)
  • for agricultural use only (irrigation)
  • unusable
Water quality refers to:
Is salinity a problem?
  • Ja
  • Nee

Occurrence of flooding
  • Ja
  • Nee
Species diversity
  • high
  • medium
  • low
Habitat diversity
  • high
  • medium
  • low

Characteristics of land users applying the Technology

Market orientation
  • subsistence (self-supply)
  • mixed (subsistence/ commercial)
  • commercial/ market
Off-farm income
  • less than 10% of all income
  • 10-50% of all income
  • > 50% of all income
Relative level of wealth
  • very poor
  • poor
  • average
  • rich
  • very rich
Level of mechanization
  • manual work
  • animal traction
  • mechanized/ motorized
Sedentary or nomadic
  • Sedentary
  • Semi-nomadic
  • Nomadic
Individuals or groups
  • individual/ household
  • groups/ community
  • cooperative
  • employee (company, government)
Gender
  • women
  • men
Age
  • children
  • youth
  • middle-aged
  • elderly
Area used per household
  • < 0.5 ha
  • 0.5-1 ha
  • 1-2 ha
  • 2-5 ha
  • 5-15 ha
  • 15-50 ha
  • 50-100 ha
  • 100-500 ha
  • 500-1,000 ha
  • 1,000-10,000 ha
  • > 10,000 ha
Scale
  • small-scale
  • medium-scale
  • large-scale
Land ownership
  • state
  • company
  • communal/ village
  • group
  • individual, not titled
  • individual, titled
Land use rights
  • open access (unorganized)
  • communal (organized)
  • leased
  • individual
Water use rights
  • open access (unorganized)
  • communal (organized)
  • leased
  • individual
Access to services and infrastructure
health

poor
good
education

poor
good
technical assistance

poor
good
employment (e.g. off-farm)

poor
good
markets

poor
good
energy

poor
good
roads and transport

poor
good
drinking water and sanitation

poor
good
financial services

poor
good

Impacts

Socio-economic impacts
Crop production
decreased
increased

product diversity
decreased
increased

farm income
decreased
increased

diversity of income sources
decreased
increased

Socio-cultural impacts
food security/ self-sufficiency
reduced
improved

conflict mitigation
worsened
improved

situation of socially and economically disadvantaged groups (gender, age, status, ehtnicity etc.)
worsened
improved

Contribution to human well-being
decreased
increased


SADeF’s installation of the market garden has enabled more than 100 women to take part in income-generating activities. Infertile lands are restored and farmers’ incomes are raised through the production of peppers, okra and shallots.

Ecological impacts
surface runoff
increased
decreased

soil moisture
decreased
increased

soil cover
reduced
improved

soil loss
increased
decreased

soil crusting/ sealing
increased
reduced

nutrient cycling/ recharge
decreased
increased

soil organic matter/ below ground C
decreased
increased

biomass/ above ground C
decreased
increased

plant diversity
decreased
increased

habitat diversity
decreased
increased

wind velocity
increased
decreased

Off-site impacts
downstream flooding (undesired)
increased
reduced

downstream siltation
increased
decreased

wind transported sediments
increased
reduced

Cost-benefit analysis

Benefits compared with establishment costs
Short-term returns
very negative
very positive

Long-term returns
very negative
very positive

Benefits compared with maintenance costs
Short-term returns
very negative
very positive

Long-term returns
very negative
very positive

Climate change

Gradual climate change
annual temperature increase

not well at all
very well
Climate-related extremes (disasters)
local rainstorm

not well at all
very well
local windstorm

not well at all
very well
drought

not well at all
very well
general (river) flood

not well at all
very well
Other climate-related consequences
reduced growing period

not well at all
very well

Adoption and adaptation

Percentage of land users in the area who have adopted the Technology
  • single cases/ experimental
  • 1-10%
  • 11-50%
  • > 50%
Of all those who have adopted the Technology, how many have done so without receiving material incentives?
  • 0-10%
  • 11-50%
  • 51-90%
  • 91-100%
Has the Technology been modified recently to adapt to changing conditions?
  • Ja
  • Nee
To which changing conditions?
  • climatic change/ extremes
  • changing markets
  • labour availability (e.g. due to migration)

Conclusions and lessons learnt

Strengths: land user's view
Strengths: compiler’s or other key resource person’s view
  • improves women’s production of trees and vegetables and restores degraded lands by planting endemic trees like the baobab and néré, whose leaves and fruit are very commonly used for food and medicinal purposes
  • Market gardening also contributes to raising farmers’ incomes through the production of peppers, okra and shallots; developing the shallot sector; and building farmers’ capacities
  • SADeF’s installation of the market garden has enabled more than 100 women to take part in income-generating activities
Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks: land user's viewhow to overcome
Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks: compiler’s or other key resource person’s viewhow to overcome
  • Critical issues requiring attention are women’s poor access to the developed land and the scarcity of equipment, particularly for processing okra and shallots.

References

Compiler
  • Dieter Nill
Editors
Reviewer
  • Deborah Niggli
  • Alexandra Gavilano
Date of documentation: Sept. 24, 2014
Last update: Sept. 5, 2019
Resource persons
Full description in the WOCAT database
Linked SLM data
Documentation was faciliated by
Institution Project
Key references
  • Manual of Good Practices in Small Scale Irrigation in the Sahel. Experiences from Mali. Published by GIZ in 2014.: http://star-www.giz.de/starweb/giz/pub/servlet.starweb
  • Plan d’affaires du micro-projet de maraîchage de la Société Coopérative “Benkadi” de Syn [Business plan for the market gardening micro-project of the ‘Benkadi’ Cooperative Company in Syn], Djenné Commune, GADC, July 2011:
This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareaAlike 4.0 International