Farmers, regardless of gender, age or education, are well aware of land degradation, what it looks like and how it impacts their livelihoods. Their perception of the effects of land degradation, how they deal with the risks and their responses in turn shape options for restoration and the outcomes.

A study by scientists from World Agroforestry (ICRAF) in Mopti, Segou and Sikasso, located in central to south Mali, confirmed that farmers in the three regions were aware of land degradation and perceived it through a set of variables belonging to their socio-economic and demographic contexts, their agricultural practices, and the environmental and climatic factors they lived under. The outcomes of this study are applicable in other countries of the Sahel to help meet global restoration targets. Understanding farmers’ perceptions of land degradation could also enable the adoption of better-contextualized restoration strategies.

‘Farmers should invest more in sustainable agricultural practices and techniques for soil and water conservation that they already know, such as agroforestry, stone bunds, zaï pits and tie ridges,’ said Ibrahim Touré, scientist at ICRAF and lead author of the study. ‘All these existing practices should be scaled up through incentives for agricultural investment and policy enforcement. This would result in more resilient landscapes, more productive fields, and improved livelihoods for all the communities living along a climatic gradient.’

Agriculture and agro-sylvo-pastoralism are the predominant forms of livelihoods in the three regions where communities are experiencing the effects of land degradation, with famine, hunger and water shortage perceived as ever-present threats. The average farm size is 8 hectares, mostly passed down through the generations or, in some instances, leased from owners. During periods of drought and hardship, young people migrate to nearby cities and those remaining behind rely on their remittances. Women used to engage in gardening and rearing livestock during dry seasons to generate income, but this is no longer possible owing to scarcity of water.

The demand for food and other natural resources in the three regions has led to intensive agricultural practices, leading in turn to shortened fallow times, and extensive practices that can lead to deforestation and land degradation.

Farmers perceived that reduced yields, infertile soils, reduced fertility, poor rainfall and biodiversity loss were direct impacts of land degradation.

Farmers’ awareness was mainly influenced by factors such as agricultural training, participation in agricultural labour, the practice of fallowing, appearance of some plant species and famine. Other factors included shortage of firewood, livestock and household size.

The study also found that farmers acknowledge the importance of trees and forests in their communities, with 90% of them believing forests were essential for their livelihood. For instance, trees provided firewood, fodder, medicine, shade and other non-timber forest products, to the benefits of farmers and their livestock.

Tree species — such as Adansonia digitata, Faidherbia albida, Parkia biglobosa, Tamarindus indica and Vitellaria paradoxa — and several other species were preserved by the communities in parklands because of the many benefits they provided.

According to farmers' perceptions, firewood extraction, agricultural expansion, and drought were the leading causes of deforestation. Harvesting firewood remained a key cause of deforestation in farmers' views across the regions, however, when asked about the shortage of firewood, 85.6% of farmers perceived it as abundantly available in Sikasso and 74.4% in Segou; only in Mopti did this perception lower to 46.7%. Public forested areas constituted the main sources for firewood extraction for 76.3% of the respondents. The harvesting distance had increased in past years to 4.3 km for Mopti, 1.7 km for Segou and 2.8 km for Sikasso. Firewood harvesting was generally performed by women.

The scientists recommended that governments and development organizations planning to undertake restoration of land, forests and ecosystem services in the three regions and beyond should lean towards agronomy and vegetative land-management options, based on context-specific conservation of soil and water and proven indigenous practices.

Download the study

Touré I, Larjavaara M, Savadogo P, Bayala J, Yirday E, Diakite A. 2020. Land degradation along a climatic gradient in Mali: Farmers' perceptions of causes and impacts. Land Degradation & Development.