Cover_Rebuilding West Africas Food Potential

426 Rebuilding West Africa’s food potential

Figure 7. Levels of performance according to regions and production systems in Mali (kg/ha)

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

589 1 35 1 1 17 1 1 37 1 1 25 1 1 56 5 2 89 0 1 28 5

1 50 9 01 407 3 95 9 1 69 7 4 66 1 4 30 5 3 21 0

4 30 0 0 6 05 4 4 14 8 6 00 0 0 4 00 0 4 34 1

Tradional culvaon

Modern culvaon

Offseason culvaon

KoulikoroKayes Mop Gao/KidalSikasso Tombouctou SégouEnsemble

Source: DNGR, 2009

It may be noted that off-season returns far outweigh those of winter rice production. Several hypotheses

could explain this, including predominating controlled water production, more labour availability, smaller

planted areas, better supervision, good off-season epidemiology.

In addition, modern^2 rice production appears to be more productive than the traditional^3 one and covers

70 percent of the total national production. However, traditional production accounts for more than

a quarter of a million tonnes of rice. Figure 7 also illustrates the significant disparity in performance

between different regions, regardless of the mode of production.

In terms of land distribution, the traditional and modern sectors occupy respectively more than 47

percent and 49 percent, while off-season production occurs on less than 3 percent of the land, which is

attributable both to seasonal water deficit and competition from vegetable crops.

Over time and at national levels, yields are changing gradually, as shown in the chart below.

(^2) Modern rice production: controlled flooding, irrigated rice, total water control methods.
(^3) Traditional rice production: rainfed and natural flooding methods.