Fonio and Bambara Groundnut Value Chains in Mali: Issues, Needs, and Opportunities for Their Sustainable Promotion

Charlie Mbosso, Basile Boulay, Stefano Padulosi, Gennifer Meldrum, Youssoufa Mohamadou, Aminata Berthe Niang, Harouna Coulibaly, Yara Koreissi and Amadou Sidibé
Additional contact information
Charlie Mbosso: Bioversity International, Via dei Tre Denari, 472/a, Maccarese, 00054 Rome, Italy
Basile Boulay: Bioversity International, Via dei Tre Denari, 472/a, Maccarese, 00054 Rome, Italy
Stefano Padulosi: Bioversity International, Via dei Tre Denari, 472/a, Maccarese, 00054 Rome, Italy
Gennifer Meldrum: Bioversity International, Via dei Tre Denari, 472/a, Maccarese, 00054 Rome, Italy
Youssoufa Mohamadou: Institut d’Economie Rurale, Rue Mohamed V Bamako, BP 258 Bamako, Mali
Aminata Berthe Niang: Institut d’Economie Rurale, Rue Mohamed V Bamako, BP 258 Bamako, Mali
Harouna Coulibaly: Institut d’Economie Rurale, Rue Mohamed V Bamako, BP 258 Bamako, Mali
Yara Koreissi: Institut d’Economie Rurale, Rue Mohamed V Bamako, BP 258 Bamako, Mali
Amadou Sidibé: Institut d’Economie Rurale, Rue Mohamed V Bamako, BP 258 Bamako, Mali

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 11, 1-19

Abstract: As the effects of climate change are severely straining West African agricultural systems, the adoption of more incisive interventions in support of sustainable development agendas for the region is highly critical and cannot be further delayed by governments. Neglected and underutilized species (NUS) are one important ally in pursuing resilience in both production and food systems because of their promising traits in terms of nutrition, adaptation to local agroecosystems, and economic potential for local populations. Focusing on fonio, a gluten-free traditional cereal, and Bambara groundnut, a protein-rich leguminous crop, we investigate issues in their production, commercialization, and consumption in southern Mali. The aim was to assess needs and opportunities for improving their value chains and increasing their use and societal benefits. Using a Rapid Market Appraisal method, we surveyed traders, producers, processors, and consumers of target crops in 2017 and 2018. Our findings indicate that while both crops are consumed and praised by local populations, critical bottlenecks inhibit their wider socioeconomic potential. Lack of access to inputs and equipment and presence of sand in the commercialized product are important issues for fonio, whereas the Bambara groundnut value chain suffers from poor processing facilities and lack of market promotion. Policy recommendations to tackle the identified bottlenecks are proposed.

Keywords: Mali; sustainable agriculture; fonio; Bambara groundnut; underutilized crops (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/11/4766/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/11/4766/ (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:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:11:p:4766-:d:369985

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

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