Shallow wells, the untapped resource with a potential to improve agriculture and food security in southern Mali
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Citation
Zemadim Birhanu, Ramadjita Tabo. (3/5/2016). Shallow wells, the untapped resource with a potential to improve agriculture and food security in southern Mali. Agriculture & Food Security, 5(5), pp. 1-13.
Abstract
Background:
Excessive rainwater during the rainy season and lack of water in the dry season have been challenging
the agricultural productivity and food security for rural communities in southern Mali. Various soil and water conservation
practices were implemented in the past to improve crop yields and income, and reverse the effect of land degradation.
However, none of these efforts looked into the potential use of shallow wells at a spatial scale to improve the
agricultural productivity and hence the food security in the region.
Results:
In total 484 shallow wells were geo-referenced, mapped and studied in two districts, Bougouni and Koutiala,
in southern Mali to understand the dynamics of groundwater recharge and relationship with rainfall in different seasons.
The study found out that shallow wells were mainly utilized for household and livestock water consumption and
not for agricultural water use. Well construction history followed the trend of the severe drought that hit the Sahel
in the years of the 1970s and 1980s. Majority of wells (87 % in Bougouni and 84 % in Koutiala) were constructed after
the drought period with significant variation of construction in the two districts (p value 0.032). Well depths ranged
from 1 to 150 m, with the majority of wells (64 %) within the depth range of 6.5–14.5 m (p value 0.043). During the
dry season water was available in the majority of wells (73 %) at a depth range from 5.5 to 15.5 m (p value 0.996). In
the rainy season on average 84 % of wells in Bougouni and 94 % of wells in Koutiala experience water level rise within
the range of 0.5–10.5 m (p value 0.423/Bougouni and 0.991/Koutiala). In few of the studied villages shallow wells were
found to be fast recharging, thus enabling farmers to buffer the negative effects of drought conditions.
Conclusion:
Shallow wells are important sources of water in rural Mali. The wells have adequate recharging capacity
during the rainy season and insignificant water level variation during the dry season. Though accessing water from
shallow wells was labour-intensive and mostly done by women and the youth, water is available within an average
depth ranging from 5.5 to 15.5 m from most studied wells. The issue of water scarcity in different seasons was thus
attributed to accessibility due to the lack of appropriate water lifting mechanisms. Groundwater was an untapped
resource in Mali, and we suggest groundwater management needs to be given consideration along with other management
practices in the changing climate condition to improve the agricultural productivity and food security.
