Thèse--Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales--Genève, 1972. / Notes bibliogr.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- McGill University. / Written for the Dept. of History. Typescript. Bibliography: leaves 475-504.

Texte remanié de: Dissertation--Philosophy--Toronto--University of Toronto, 1978. / Bibliogr. p. 250-277. Index.

The following research developed an approach and methodology to simultaneously gather and integrate social and natural science farm system data of developing countries into one data base. The overall approach was based on Weber's theory of abstraction, which requires the identification of the broadest number of variables as possible. The first step to understanding the farm system was to overview a number of the key variables which represented a number of key farm components; the second step was to juxtapose and blend together the various forms of data in linear forms against a test variable of Striga infestation levels; the third step was to evaluate if the amount of knowledge gained in predicting Striga infestation levels was statistically significant by cross correlating soil nutrient levels, crop management approaches, farmers' perceptions of Striga infestation and spatial distances; the fourth step was to use parametric and non-parameterc analytical tools in conjunction with data compression to locate the best combination of parameters to better manage Striga. The final part of the process was to identify and integrate the crop, field and social data into a profile of farmer's who have the highest and lowest likelihood of being infested by Striga by using a soil nutrient concentration baseline as the indicator. The results were that natural and social science data could be successfully combined, integrated and have statistically significant cross correlations. These correlations indicate that specific spatial parameters combined with specific soil components, farmer's management and crop placement could be used as predictors of Striga infestation levels. As well the farmers' perception could be validated using natural science data.

No description available.

Prepared by the Arid Lands Information Center, Office of Arid Lands Studies, University of Arizona ; A. Paige Grant, compiler (with assistance from Doug Stotz).

The study assessed the impact of rice paddy water management practices and related environmental conditions that prevail in Niono, Mali, on the size of larval populations of Anopheles gambiae s.l., a major malaria vector. The longer the period of uninterrupted flooding, the greater was the larval population size. As the density of aquatic weeds increased, the size of the mosquito larval population declined, whereas the presence of rice plants enhanced the size of mosquito larval populations. Numbers of mosquito larvae initially increased as rice plant density rose, but then decreased marginally as densities reached their peak. These results confirm that water management plays a major role in the production of mosquito larvae. Nevertheless, comparison with studies conducted in other areas suggest that the impact of water management on mosquitoes varies regionally. In the Niono region, controlled irrigation and drainage should favour the reduction of Anopheles mosquito larval populations.

No description available.

During the past decade, there has been a clear recognition of the relationship between environment and development, and that it is through the process of development that environment is often negatively affected. Therefore, to minimize the destructive effect of development, planning became a necessity. However, for any management goal, there are usually several alternative ways of developing a plan. My planning process began by a general resources inventory of the Republic of Mali including soils, vegetation, surface waters, groundwaters, land use, and population. Then, based on this inventory, I chose a planning area using pre-established criteria. The area chosen was the "Inland Delta of the Niger River." The Delta, with 30,100 km², has an enormous economic potential, and livestock raising is an important component of this potential. However, four main factors are limiting the development of livestock raising in the region: Lack of an official and consistent land right, uncontrolled increase of the number of animals, uncontrolled increase of cultivated fields, and persistent drought. The objective of this dissertation was to make a preliminary investigation which would help the Government of the Republic of Mali establish a coherent and integrated plan for all economic activities in the Delta. The economic, social and environmental components of the current livestock management and two management alternatives have been analyzed, using a model planning unit and also a herd model. The first alternative consisted of changing the herd composition, and the second alternative was a combination of changing the herd composition and the use of irrigation and fertilization to grow adapted forage species. The results showed that the two alternatives are better than the current management, and that the second alternative provided the highest economic returns and stability to the region. The implementation of the proposed plan will necessitate the creation of agro-pastoral units based on soils, vegetation, and social characteristics. The Government should adopt a more coherent and coordinated policy toward the different land users of the Delta, the final objective being high stable economic returns for the population, the preservation of the basic resources, and the equilibrium among different activities.

The literature on the demography of pastoral populations tends to consider pastoralism as an independent determinant of the levels and patterns of fertility and mortality. Despite a general lack of adequate data, there is a preoccupation with the low fertility of pastoral populations. Demographic data are presented for three Malian populations: sedentary Bambara cultivators and two Kel Tamasheq groups of nomadic pastoralists. These populations are compared and contrasted and internal social class differentials are examined. Bambara have higher fertility than the two pastoral populations and all three groups have different patterns of mortality. Child mortality levels vary significantly between Kel Tamasheq social classes. An examination of the intermediate determinants of fertility identifies marriage as the most important differentiating factor. For mortality a similar approach is unable to identify any particular intermediate variable as the dominant determinant of the observed patterns. The principal mortality differentials occur, however, within the pastoral populations, where high status, rich social classes have higher child mortality than poor, low status ex-slaves. Intensive, qualitative studies of marriage and social class variation show that although the pastoral Kel Tamasheq are demographically different from the Bambara, these differences are caused as much by socio-cultural factors as by economic ones. Kel Tamasheq kinship, household formation patterns and the importance of prestige and status mean that women may spend many of their child-bearing years between marriages, either divorced or widowed. This contrasts with the Bambara pattern of continuous marriage maintained through divorce, polygyny and inheritance, vhere much status and wealth is acquired through having children. The same socio-cultural factors create variation in Tamasheq child care patterns. Social constraints on high status mothers operate in the opposite direction from economic constraints, producing unexpected patterns of social class mortality differentials. The study concludes that nomadic pastoralists are not demographically different from cultivating populations because of their production system. To understand why the observed differences do occur, intensive qualitative studies are needed to supplement and explain the quantitative data.