Western and Central Africa
Finding the Missing Piece in the Jigsaw Puzzle
Musukura grows rice, groundnut, and
cowpea in the little plot that her husband has given her. She also helps her husband in
his sorghum field and works with the village women in the piece of land that they
collectively cultivate. She gathers animal manure for her husband who uses it in his field
and when needed takes care of the goats and sheep that he owns.
Yet, despite all this, Musukura has largely
remained invisible, like the rest of the village women in the discussions on agricultural
issues that sometimes take place between the villagers and extension workers. Why? Because
she doesn’t own any land or cattle.
For this very reason, even the new project on the intensification of integrated crop-livestock system that has chosen the Village Djeni to test on-farm a “best bet” technology package would have bypassed Musukura and the other village women. Fortunately, ICRISAT, ILRI, IITA, IFDC, and IER – the project partners in Mali – are keen that the technology should benefit all the farmers, including women, of the target region. The project, which is funded by the Systemwide Livestock Program, is therefore, making a special effort to find out the views of the village women.
The aim of the project is to increase the
productivity and sustainability of the mixed crop-livestock system that is practiced by
most farmers in this region. It also addresses some of the major problems that such
farmers are facing because of increasing pressure on marginal lands. “Our farms are
not 
producing
enough food these days for our family. Earlier everything used to be produced here; we did
not have to buy anything from the market,” said 64-year old Kougouri Coulibaly,
reminiscing about her youth. “Another major problem of these farmers is dry season
feeding of cattle,” said R Tabo, the Coordinator of the project and his IER
counterpart B Traore.
To overcome such complex problems, the project is using an integrated approach, exploiting the synergy between the different components that make up the jigsaw puzzle of the mixed crop-livestock system. And now by taking into consideration the perceptions of rural women such as Musukura, the project is putting in place the piece that was missing until now from the puzzle.
