Economic analysis of traditional and improved farming systems and optimal farm plans for peasants in the OHV zone, Mali

Improvement of agricultural practices and productivity has been part of rural development programs all over the world since the Green Revolution of the 1960's. In Mali, extension programs include the diffusion of "new" agricultural technologies usually presented in packages. Mixed results have been achieved by the various extension agencies because little knowledge existed about traditional production methods and cropping practices, and the economics of new technologies. The purpose of this study was first to identify and fully describe the traditional farming system in the village of Deguela, Mali, as a point of departure of understanding the nature of constraints faced by farmers. Secondly, an economic analysis of traditional and improved practices (including the technical package) was conducted in order to determine their financial viability. Data on land, labor, capital, production expenses and yields of crops were collected during the recall survey and from various on-farm experiment sources. Enterprise budgets were constructed for each crop, farming system and technology. Linear programming was used to determine optimal farm plans for the average traditional and equipped farms. Results indicated that the most limiting factor for peasants of Deguela was capital for the purchase of draft animals, animal-drawn implements and chemicals. It appeared that in normal years, all farmers were cereal self-sufficient. The recommended technological package is economically better than traditional practices for all crops except millet and sorghum. Future studies need to concentrate on the financial viability and riskiness of each proposed technology to determine the best technical package. Caution must be observed concerning the use of some of the data for this study because of the nature of the survey (recall) and the few extrapolations and adjustments of previously existing data.