SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND RURAL ECONOMIC STUDIES IN MALI: THE DUKOLOMBA FOREST THE BANDIAGARA PLATEAU by Riitta K. Eskelinen John Aron Grayzel John Van DUsen Lewis Hamadcun Sidibe under the direction of Michael M Horowitz Contract No. AID/afr-C-1045 Research Foundation of State University of New York August 1979 Introduction In 1974 the Agency for International Development contracted with the Research Foundation of State University of New York (No. AID/afr-C-1045) to provide social anthropological and rural economic studies of farm and pastoral production systems in two areas of the Republic of Mali under the scientific direction of Professor Michael M Horowitz. 1 The first area, the Dukoloma 2 , Forest was selected because it was the locus of the then proposed Mali Li, stock I project, the first of the major post-drought pastoral sector activities entered into by AID in the Sahel. The Directors of the Office of Development Services, bureau for Africa (AFR/DS) and the Regional Economic Development Services Office/West Africa (REDSO/WA) agreed that the traditional "technical" approach tc livestock development was less likely to respond to the new objectives of the project -- which included bettering the conditions and income of the rural producers as well as increasing yields -- than one firmly based on the social and economic realities of the area. An announcement of opportunities for field research in Mali was sent to all major graduate departments of anthropology in the United States. ",vo graduate students in social anthropology, John Van Dusen Lewis of Yale University and John Aron Grayzel of the University of Oregon, were chosen from a large group of applicants and quickly established themselves in the field. They were joined by Dongui Sissoko, appointed as host country counterpart by the Office Malien du Betail et de la Viande (OMBEVI), the Malian government agency associated with the project. The research team spent 16 months in the Dukoloma Forest. Lewis focused on Bambara-speaking farmers. Grayzel studied Fulfulde-speaking mixed farmer/herdsmen. Sissoko distributed his time among a variety of ethno-ecological groupings.3 The second region of study, the 1 The contract also provided for Michael Horowitz's secondment to REDSO/WA as regional anthropologist and director of social science research. 2 There is considerable variation in the spelling of the Dukoloma Forest. Some of the variants appear within this collection of reports. We have not tried to make them consistent. 3 Sissoko's reports were sent directly to OMBEVI, and are not included in this collection. Dogon-speaking Bandiagara Plateau and Seno Plain, was selected because it is the central locus of Operation Mils, the Malian cereals production development organization. The opposition between intensive cultivation with manual water­ ing on the Plateau and extensive rainfed cultivation on the Plain appeared useful in examining a series of propositions about the two forms of production. The original intention to have these studies undertaken collaboratively by an economist and an anthropologist was not achieved, for the anthropologist, Riitta K. Eskelinen, R.N., graduate student in anthropology at the University of North Carolina, completed her field research before the rural economist, Hamadoun Sidibe of Laval University, was able to arrive. In aggregate, the field compenent of the project began in the Spring of '974 and continued through the Summer of 1978. During this time, the students regularly submitted reports on their work, and these reports were widely distributed to Malian and to USAID officials and contractors. We have received a number of requests however, to assemble the reports under a single cover. Hence this edition has been prepared, which reproduces the reports as initially presented (except for retyping in the case of those done in the lfield and for translation from the French original for those of Hamadoun Sidibe). Copies are being made available to the AID Reference Center (DS/DIU). One of the unanticipated payoffs from this research is the continuing contribution being made to Third World development activities by the members of the research team. Upon completing his work on this project, Dongui Sissoko was appointed official OMBEVI sociologist, and subsequently returned to the University for advanced training in his field. Dr. John Grayzel is currently AID social science advisor in Mauritania. Dr. John Van Dusen Lewis is an officer with the Rural Development Office, Development Support Bureau (DS/RAD), having previously been development anthropologist with the Malian office of the Internatiunal Livestock Development Centre for Africa. The research assistants and I would like to acknowledge the support and encouragement received from Malian and USAID officials during this study. Among the many who aided us, both materially and spiritually, we would like to single out for especial thanks, the following: Mrs. Goler T. Butcher, Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Africa Mr. Ronald Levin, Director, AID/Bamako Dr. Princeton Lyman, Director, AFR/DS Dr. David Shear. Director, REDSO/WA and AFR/SFWA Dr. Boubakar Sy, Director-General, OMBEVI Mr. Miles G. Wedeman, Director, PEDSO/WA Office affiliations are as of the research period. Michael M Horowitz Professor of Anthropology State University of New York at Binghamton August 1979 CONTENTS Introduction First Quarterly Report on Sociological Research in Dugukolomba -- John Van Dusen Lewis ....... ... ........ ... First Field Report -- John Grayzel .................... 17 Second Field Report on Social Anthropological Research in Dukolomba and Environs -- John Van Dusen Lewis ... ...... 26 Second Field Report -- John Grayzel ...... ............... 52 Land Availability for Dukolomba, Dufunu, and Dawariwgre -- John Van Dusen Lewis ........ ................... 75 The Farming Needs of Dukolomba, Dufunu and "awariwe John Van Dusen Lewis ........ ................... 77 The Status of the Ox-drawn Plow in Dukolomba -- John Van Dusen Lewis ........ ................... 81 Guide to Hiring Labor for the Clearing of the Foret Classe'de Dukolomba -- John Van Dusen Lewis .... ........ 89 Report on Animal Prices at the Market of Bussain -- John Grayzel ...... ........................... 91 Final Report on Implementing L'Embouche Paysanne in the Dukolomba Region -- John Van Dusen Lewis ...... .... 107 Cattle Raisers and Cattle Raising in the Doukolomba Forest Area -- John Grayzel ................... .I...119 Field Report -- ,gon Cereals Project: Health Conditions at the Village Level -- Riitta K. Eskelinen .... ........ 173 Field Report -- Dogon Cereals Project: Market Gardening on the Bandiagara Plateau --Riitta K. Eskelinen ... ....... 189 Dogon Cereals Pro.iect: The Market System -- Riitta K. Eskelinen. ....... ................... 208 Dogon Agricultural Systems: Sociological Aspects Relating to Development Interventions --Riitta K. Eskelinen . .. 224 Field Report -- Dogon Cereals Project: Demographic Variables in a Village Population -- Riitta K. Eskelinen........... 321 Field Report -- Dogon Cereals Project: Physical and Social Milieux -- Hamadoun Sidibeo....... ................ 337 Dogon Cereals Project: Production Systems -- Hamadoun Sidibe".... ... .. ... .. ... .. .. 371 Field Report -- Dogon Cereals Project: The Destinations of Products -- Hamadoun Sidibe ....... .............. 442 Dogon Cereals Project: "Modern" Institutions in Dogon Country -- Hamadoun Sidibe .................. .. 485 -1- FIRST QUARTERLY REPORT ON SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN DUGUKOLOMBA John Van Dusen Lewis September 20, 1974 This initial report will be divided into three parts. The first will be a brief review of logistical and administrative developments associated with my particular research effort. The second will attempt an encapsulated intro­ ductory description of those organizational features of Dugukolomba society which canalize significant economic choices. The third will make some crude, but hope­ fully timely, suggestions regarding the consequences and possibilities these societal features could have for the Projet Mali Livestock. I. Aside from a briefing in Abidjan my second week in Africa, with a return trip to Mali via Bobo, Mopti, and Dogon country on an AID rented plane with the Shears, Horowitz, and Weisenborn, I spent May in Bamako taking the Bambara language course prepared for the Peace Corps and making research arrangements with L'OMBEVI personnel. In early June, N. Cisse of L'OMBEVI and a representative from Elebage for the Cercle of Segou escorted me to Douna. There the forest ranger from the Service des Eaux et Forets, Brema Coulibaly, guided us to Dugukolomba, where, with Cisse's help, he explained to the chief and the village elders my pur­ pose in coming to live with them. He then made preliminary arrangements for our lodging and other physical needs; all of which he has followed up on on numerous subsequent occasions. The village elders gave me his last name, Coulibaly or Kulubali, adding N'tji as a first name (N'tji is the name given to first-born sons among the Bambara of the Segou area; it was given to me since I am the first white to "sit down," as they say, in their village). In spite of Mme. Rupp's pessimism about Doukoulouma (as she and all other French mistakenly transcribe the name of the village), there is enthusiasm -2­ for the Project. It was chosen as a base on the advice of M. Coulibaly. As the senior village in the area and, not unrelatedly, the sponsor of a weekly market it was the logical choice