Foraging Is Determinant to Improve Smallholders’ Food Security in Rural Areas in Mali, West Africa

Sognigbe N’Danikou, Raymond Sognon Vodouhe, Mauricio Bellon, Amadou Sidibé and Harouna Coulibaly
Additional contact information
Sognigbe N’Danikou: Bioversity International, West and Central Africa Office, Cotonou 08 BP 0932, Benin
Raymond Sognon Vodouhe: Bioversity International, West and Central Africa Office, Cotonou 08 BP 0932, Benin
Amadou Sidibé: Centre Régionale de la Recherche Agronomique de Sotuba, Institut d’Economie Rurale, Unité des Ressources Génétiques, Bamako BP 30, Mali
Harouna Coulibaly: Centre Régionale de la Recherche Agronomique de Sotuba, Institut d’Economie Rurale, Unité des Ressources Génétiques, Bamako BP 30, Mali

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 11, 1-18

Abstract: Studies on the enabling factors for household food security (HFS) most often used simplified econometric models looking into the links with a selected set of variables. In this research, a livelihood approach of HFS was used and aimed at determining the most significant livelihood assets for HFS in dryland agricultural systems. Elements of the five livelihood assets were assessed through questionnaire surveys with a random sample of 180 households, and six focus group discussions in three communities along the rural-urban continuum, in Southern Mali. The coping strategy index approach was used to evaluate household food security status. Non-parametric and parametric statistical tests were combined, as appropriate, to identify the most significant determinants of HFS status. Findings indicated that most determinant factors of HFS were the diversity of wild and cultivated food plants, and hunting (natural capital); access to clean water and irrigation (infrastructural capital); and off-farm employment (financial capital). HFS also improved along the urban-rural continuum and rural households with high natural capital seemed to be more food secure. Findings call for important investment to expand the natural capital (e.g., domestication of new crops and agricultural diversification) and infrastructural capital (irrigation facilities, clean water) of the rural households.

Keywords: agricultural biodiversity; dryland systems; food security; coping strategies; tree models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/11/2074/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/11/2074/ (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:9:y:2017:i:11:p:2074-:d:118354

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 ().