Eric Vall

Local Technical Knowledge and Efficiency of Organic Fertilizer Production in South Mali: Diversity of Practices

In order to conserve soil fertility and to produce enough organic fertilizer and forage, farmers must manage efficiently the crop residues and animal waste produced on the farm. This article characterizes the local technical knowledge on organic fertilizer and the diversity of practices, and analyzes the efficiency of these practices. An agricultural survey was carried out in 2006 for villages in southern Mali. Farmers’ local technical knowledge was characterized beforehand by an original method. Crop residues and animal waste management practices, as well as the production and use of organic fertilizer, were followed and measured. The efficiency of each practice was evaluated considering the output/input ratio for biomass, carbon and nitrogen. Farmers identified five types of organic fertilizers with different characteristics, uses, and types of risks. The use rate of crop residues and animal waste into organic fertilizer and the nitrogen and carbon efficiency were correlated with the development of diversified and innovative practices of crop residues and animal waste management. The nitrogen efficiency depended on the use rate of animal waste, but efficiencies remained low (<0.15 for C and <0.37 for N) and significant losses persisted.

Herding territories in Northern Cameroon and Western Burkina Faso: spatial arrangements and herd management

In Sudano-Sahelian Africa, Fulani pastoralists who settled down massively in less densely populated zones during the 1970s and 1980s have recently increased the mobility of their herds in response to an extension of cropping areas, a shortage of pasture and problems resulting from crop damage by cattle. Today, they annually exploit a set of areas located both near to and far from their dwellings that constitutes their ‘herding territory’. This article aims to clarify how Fulani pastoralists conceive, organize and manage their herding territory and to discuss the future of pastoralism within the local and regional legal framework. The study was carried out in northern Cameroon and western Burkina Faso over three years following a participatory research approach. The results show that the herding territory is mainly composed of three sub-elements endowed with different access rights: the ‘attachment territory’ and ‘peripheral territory’, with rangelands that are exploited by ‘house herds’ on a daily basis, and the ‘territories distant from the residential area’ that serve for transhumance and the relocation of a second group of herds known as the ‘bush herd’. These territories and herds are managed by mobilizing local knowledge and juggling a combination of factors, including the availability of plant biomass on different pastoral units, access rights and agreements with local stakeholders regarding resources, the date the rains arrive and the progress of sowing and harvesting in the fields. If pastoral systems are to be maintained in a sustainable manner in this region, any change to existing spatial arrangements must take into account the knowledge, expectations and needs of pastoralists on one hand and the evolving legal and institutional framework in western Africa on the other.

Designing a Process of Co-Management of Crop Residues for Forage and Soil Conservation in Sudano-Sahel

Over the past 30 years, a large number of farmers and herders have moved into the southern part of the Sudano-Sahelian region in search of arable land and pastures. Today, human population pressure is restricting the amount and quality of pastures available to herds and is forcing farmers to continually cultivate their fields without setting aside fallow areas, leading to decreased soil fertility. The traditional use of crop residues by herders (free grazing) and farmers (organic manure) as well as crop-livestock integration models promoted to date have proved ineffective in halting the degradation of resources and in increasing production. This situation is particularly critical in north Cameroon where various socioeconomic, technical, and organizational factors strongly constrain innovation in comparison with western Burkina Faso and southern Mali. This article proposes novel models (technical and organizational) of producing and managing crop residues (processing/recycling, sharing between groups of actors) that are adapted to the specific features of different types of farms in the region.