Baguineda — Malians are cautiously turning to a new farming technique that could boost harvests and help them adapt to the effects of climate change
When rice farmers started producing yields nine times larger than normal in the Malian desert near the famed town of Timbuktu a decade ago, a passerby could have mistaken the crop for another desert mirage.
Rather, it was the result of an engineering feat that has left experts in this impoverished nation in awe - but one that has yet to spread widely through Mali's farming community.
"We must redouble efforts to get political leaders on board," said Djiguiba Kouyaté, a coordinator in Mali for German development agency GIZ.
With hunger a constant menace, Malians are cautiously turning to a controversial farming technique, known as rice intensification, to adapt to the effects of climate change.
The method, pioneered in Madagascar in 1983, has raised hopes that Mali's small-scale rice farmers might be able to increase their productivity to meet the country's gargantuan appetite for the grain.
Consumption of the staple stood at about 72 kg (163 lb) of rice per person in 2014, according to the latest data Mali's National Directorate of Statistics has made public - and demand is continuing to grow.
Dubbed the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), the new rice production method involves planting fewer seeds of traditional rice varieties and taking care of them following a strict regime.
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