On-Farm Evaluation on Yield and Economic Performance of Cereal-Cowpea Intercropping to Support the Smallholder Farming System in the Soudano-Sahelian Zone of Mali

Bougouna Sogoba, Bouba Traoré, Abdelmounaime Safia, Oumar Baba Samaké, Gilbert Dembélé, Sory Diallo, Roger Kaboré, Goze Bertin Benié, Robert B. Zougmoré and Kalifa Goïta
Additional contact information
Bougouna Sogoba: Centre D’Applications et de Recherches en TéléDétection (CARTEL), Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC J1K 2R1, Canada
Bouba Traoré: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT-Niger), BP 12404 Niamey, Niger
Abdelmounaime Safia: Centre D’Applications et de Recherches en TéléDétection (CARTEL), Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC J1K 2R1, Canada
Oumar Baba Samaké: ONG AMEDD (Association Malienne d’Éveil au Développement Durable) Darsalam II-Route de Ségou, Rue 316 porte 79, BP 212 Koutiala, Mali
Gilbert Dembélé: ONG AMEDD (Association Malienne d’Éveil au Développement Durable) Darsalam II-Route de Ségou, Rue 316 porte 79, BP 212 Koutiala, Mali
Sory Diallo: Institut D’Economie Rurale (IER)-Mali, BP 438 Bamako, Mali
Roger Kaboré: ONG AMEDD (Association Malienne d’Éveil au Développement Durable) Darsalam II-Route de Ségou, Rue 316 porte 79, BP 212 Koutiala, Mali
Goze Bertin Benié: Centre D’Applications et de Recherches en TéléDétection (CARTEL), Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC J1K 2R1, Canada
Robert B. Zougmoré: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), ICRISAT West and Central Africa Office, BP 320 Bamako, Mali
Kalifa Goïta: Centre D’Applications et de Recherches en TéléDétection (CARTEL), Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC J1K 2R1, Canada

Agriculture, 2020, vol. 10, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: Cereal-cowpea intercropping has become an integral part of the farming system in Mali. Still, information is lacking regarding integrated benefits of the whole system, including valuing of the biomass for facing the constraints of animal feedings. We used farmers’ learning networks to evaluate performance of intercropping systems of millet-cowpea and sorghum-cowpea in southern Mali. Our results showed that under intercropping, the grain yield obtained with the wilibali (short maturing duration) variety was significantly higher than the yield obtained with the sangaranka (long maturing duration) variety whether with millet (36%) or sorghum (48%), corresponding, respectively, to an economic gain of XOF (West African CFA franc) 125 282/ha and XOF 142 640/ha. While for biomass, the yield obtained with the sangaranka variety was significantly higher by 50% and 60% to that of wilibali with an economic gain of XOF 286 526/ha (with millet) and XOF 278 516/ha (with sorghum). Total gain obtained with the millet-cowpea system was significantly greater than that obtained with the sorghum-cowpea system by 14%, and this stands irrespective of the type of cowpea variety. Farmers prefer the grain for satisfying immediate food needs instead of economic gains. These results represent an indication for farmer’s decision-making regarding cowpea varieties selection especially for addressing household food security issues or feeding animals.

Keywords: intercropping; cropping systems; Sub-Saharan Africa; millet and sorghum; diversification (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/10/6/214/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/10/6/214/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:10:y:2020:i:6:p:214-:d:369030

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().