Farmers’ experience and ecological knowledge proven valuable against land degradation in Mali

A study by scientists from World Agroforestry (ICRAF) in Mopti, Segou and Sikasso, located in central to south Mali, confirmed that farmers in the three regions were aware of land degradation and perceived it through a set of variables belonging to their socio-economic and demographic contexts, their agricultural practices, and the environmental and climatic factors they lived under. The outcomes of this study are applicable in other countries of the Sahel to help meet global restoration targets. Understanding farmers’ perceptions of land degradation could also enable the adoption of better-contextualized restoration strategies.