The farming system

4. The zone is characterized by mixed crop-livestock production systems where the principal crops are millet, sorghum, cowpeas and groundnuts. Livestock kept include cattle, sheep and goats as well as donkeys and poultry. Table 1 summarizes the cropping patterns, farm implements and livestock ownership or holding of an average household in the study area. The averages are computed over 35 households regularly monitored by a multidisciplinary research team from the Malian Projet Sectoriel (Ly, Bartholomew, and Sissoko, 1987).

Table 1. Cropping patterns, farm implements and livestock ownership among smallholder households in the semi-arid zone of Mali, 1988/89

I. Cropping Pattern		Crop area (ha)	% of total
a) Cereal crops in pure stands
	- millet	1.13	8.28
	- sorghum	0.23	1.68
	- maize	0.99	7.18
b) Cereal/Leguminous associations
	- millet/cowpea/groundnut	7.35	53.85
	- sorghum/cowpea/groundnut	1.16	8.50
	- millet/sweet potatoes	1.20	8.79
	- sorghum/peas/calabash	0.25	1.83
c) Other crops
	- groundnuts in pure stands	0.98	7.18
	- water melon	0.10	0.65
	- peas in pure stands	0.26	1.90
Total all crops		14.00	100
II. Agricultural implements		Average number/family
	- animal drawn plough	2
	- multiple purpose weeder	1
	- planter	0
	- animal-drawn cart	1
III. Livestock		Average number/family
	- oxen	3
	- other cattle	21
	- sheep and goats	34
	- donkey	1

Source: Ly et al (1987)

5. Of the total crop area about 10% is planted to millet and sorghum in pure stands, and 72% to mixed crops including crop/leguminous associations as well as sweet potatoes, bambara nuts (peas) and calabash. On average a household owns two animal-animal-drawn ploughs, a weeder and a cart as farm implements, and 24 head of cattle, including 3 oxen and about 34 small ruminants. Each family consists of an average of 15 members 7 of which may be considered agriculturally active i.e. capable of providing agricultural labour.