Water management and water harvesting: how to overcome constraints in community gardening in semi-arid Mali

Abstract: Malnutrition, i.e. the undersupply of micro-nutrients, is a common phenomenon in the villages of West African Mali. Community gardening can help to overcome the gap between supply of and requirements for micro-nutrients. In addition to its effect on nutrition, community gardening supports the pro-poor orientation of economic growth, and has a potentially positive effect on human capital formation, communal coherence, and women’s empowerment. Water supply, however, is a major bottleneck for gardening in the Sahel zone. Based on a field survey using a “rapid rural appraisal”-inspired research method, the paper develops the argument for a de-linking of irrigation from deep wells (water mining) and argues in favour of a combination of water harvesting techniques and substantial improvements of the gardens’ micro-climate in a low external input yet technically appropriately sophisticated cultivation. The paper furthermore discusses traditional forms of social organisation and how to mak

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource, 170-174 S.
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Veröffentlichungsversion ; begutachtet (peer reviewed) ; In: Proceedings of the 2013 International Conference "Economic Science for Rural Development”. 2013. S. 170-174. ISBN 978-9934-8304-7-1

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Natürliche Ressourcen, Energie und Umwelt

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Jelgava
• (when): 2013
• Creator: Bass, Hans-Heinrich ; Freyhold, Klaus von ; Weisskoeppel, Cordula

Further information

• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-341370
• Rights: Open Access; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 15.08.2025, 7:31 AM CEST