Section outline

    • Now let’s travel to Mali and more specifically to the cotton farming area of Sikasso. The researchers are having trouble answering the question: has cotton farming improved the farmers’ standard of living or not? This is the so-called “Sikasso” paradox.

    • Vidéo : Sébastien Bainville presents the Sikasso paradox.

    • Introduction: Can we get by without the past? (2'30) File
      17.3 MB

    • Written exercise: Statistical analysis and the Sikasso paradox. Carefully read the attached study, one of the most developed analysis of the situation, and then answer the question:
      “Has cotton farming influenced the economic situation of farmers? To what extent, how and why?”

    • Article: The Sikasso paradox, overview of the statistical studies File

    • Vidéo : Sébastien Bainville paints an overall picture of the history and environment of Sikasso.

    • General description of the Sikasso area (11') File
      • The main historical periods of the area
      • The main ecosystems of the area
      83.1 MB

    • Vidéo : Sébastien Bainville describes how farming activities were organised in Sikasso before cotton was introduced.

    • History of the Sikasso area: Situation before the sixties (18'30) File
      • Cropping Systems
      • The social organisation of production

    • Exercise: Sikasso before cotton. Do you clearly understand the farming situation of the Sikasso area prior to the sixties? This exercise will help you to assess your knowledge.

    • Do you clearly understand the farming situation of the Sikasso area? Page

    • Vidéo : Sébastien Bainville tells you about the golden era of cotton in Sikasso, from 1960 to 2000.

    • History of the area: the introduction and development of cotton (21'30) File
      • Introduction of cotton farming
      • 1960-1980 The extension of cotton farming
      • 1980-2000 The intensification of cotton farming
      • Agrarian re-organisation related to cotton farming
      • Subdivision of large families
      188.1 MB

    • Vidéo : Sébastien Bainville tells you about the cotton crisis in the 2000s and its impact to date.

    • History of the area: the cotton crisis (12'30) File
      • The cotton crisis and its global impact
      • Impact of the crisis on the different types of families
      • Explanation of the Sikasso paradox
      104.4 MB
    • Scientific paper: Land rights issues in Africa, the contribution of agrarian systems research in Burkina Faso (Sébastien Bainville) File

      This paper presents a situation similar to Sikasso, yet it takes place in Burkina Faso.

    • Bonus Exercise: Go back over the history of Sikasso. You must place the main changes brought to the farming systems in the correct historical period.

    • The history of farming in Sikasso Page