AGRARIAN HISTORY
Step 1. Why do a historical analysis of agricultural change?
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.
Sébastien Bainville presents the Sikasso paradox.
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?”
Sébastien Bainville paints an overall picture of the history and environment of Sikasso.- The main historical periods of the area
- The main ecosystems of the area
Sébastien Bainville describes how farming activities were organised in Sikasso before cotton was introduced.- 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.
Sébastien Bainville tells you about the golden era of cotton in Sikasso, from 1960 to 2000.- 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
Sébastien Bainville tells you about the cotton crisis in the 2000s and its impact to date.- The cotton crisis and its global impact
- Impact of the crisis on the different types of families
- Explanation of the Sikasso paradox
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.
Step 2. Method: how to produce a historical analysis of a territory?
The Sikasso case illustrates that it is important to study the Agrarian History of a region to understand its organisation. But how do you go about this?
Elisabeth Rasse-Mercat reviews the Sikasso case and the working hypotheses and the presuppositions that must be kept in mind for the historical study.
Written exercise: the sources of information for the historical study. You are in charge of carrying out a historical study in an area that you are just getting to know: - Which resources and which people will you call upon?
- Which source(s) of information will you begin with?
- Resources not to begin with
- What to do first
Exercise: the interview guide for a historical interview.
You will first interview older farmers. Compose an interview guide:- To answer the questions raised by the landscape analysis
- To clarify the history of the farms in the area and the factors or events that led to change
To (re)view the interview guide preparation method, look at the lesson "Qualitative survey methods applied to natural resource management” (Module 2, lesson 4).
Instruction and framework File 198.6KB
Solution of the exercise File 221.6KB
Step 3. How to analyze data?
Sébastien Bainville introduces the concepts used to study the Sikasso paradox.- The system approach
- Cropping System
- Production System
- Agrarian System
Exercise: Analyse an interview and extract the key information. Elisabeth Rasse-Mercat interviewed an older farmer in the Villeveyrac basin. Watch and analyse the interview to extract the information that will allow you to compose the region’s agrarian history.To review or carry out the landscape analysis of this area, click here
Exercise: Compare the information with another interview to reconstruct the history of the region. Elisabeth Rasse-Mercat held another interview in the same area. Watch and analyse it to extract the key information that you can then compare with the information collected from the previous interview.
Elisabeth Rasse-Mercat shows how, by adding some bibliographic data, the information collected from these two interviews allows you to reconstruct a large part of the Agrarian history of the Villeveyrac region.- The main historical periods of the Villeveyrac area
- Pre-WW2
- Post-War: mass wine production
- 1970-2000: Wine crisis
- Contemporary period
- Farm diversity
Written exercise: Compose a historical timeline. From all of the previously gathered information, compose a chronological timeline that represents the Agrarian History of the Villeveyrac basin, with a focus on the appearances, disappearances and evolutions of: - Farming practices
- Types of farms
Step 4. The Agrarian History of N'Kosy
Didier Pillot recalls some methodological elements required for the historical study.
Didier Pillot interviewes Paul Kibwika as an expert: “the land tenure and cotton market "events" are essential”.
Exercise: Compose a historical timeline for cotton and land use. Based in this interview, position the key elements presented on the timeline.
Didier Pillot and Paul Kibwika expose and analyse the farmers' strategies to adapt to the different changes over time.
- Sources of income to replace cotton
- The case of coffee
- Food crops evolution
- Land occupation changes
- Farming practices changes
Exercise: Differentiate intra-system and extra-system factors. Based on these interviews, sort the following key factors of changes in intra-system and extra-system factors.
Didier Pillot presents the agrarian history of N'Kosy that we will be using – with the landscape analysis – to create a typology of farmers.- 1940-1970: Period of Kabaka
- 1971-1979: Idi Amin presidency
- 1980-200: The return of Kabaka
- From 2000: contemporary period
- Types of farmers we can already identify