Rice-fish integration systems in Mali: A WorldFish-AfricaRice collaborative project

Abstract

To increase food self-sufficiency in Africa, the International Development Agency (IDA) of the World Bank funded the CGIAR Research Program (CRP) on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS) to work with other CGIAR centers. The grant covered the period from January 2021 to December 2023 for work on experimenting with integrated rice-fish systems in several African countries, including Mali. The main objective of the Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa project in Mali (AICCRA-Mali) is to “strengthen systemic capacity” in the country in order to improve “the flow of climate-relevant information, decision-making tools, and technologies from knowledge producers to knowledge consumers.” The project is implemented by AfricaRice, with support from WorldFish. Its aim is to achieve four specific activities: (1) knowledge and services, (2) partnerships for delivery, (3) supporting the adoption and use of climate smart agriculture (CSA), and (4) project management. For this project, specifically, WorldFish supported “the validation, capacity building, and policy options on rice-fish systems” part of the project. Before the project ended on December 31, 2023, WorldFish and AfricaRice organized a wrap-up workshop to share results and get feedback from local stakeholders. The 3-day workshop took place from October 30 to November 1, 2023, at the Hotel l’Amitié in Bamako, Mali, and was organised into two activities: • Day 1: a field visit to the demonstration site of a rice-fish integration system in Selingue • Days 2 and 3: a series of presentations, discussions, and workgroups. The objectives of the workshop were to present the results of the experiments with rice-fish systems in Mali and to discuss and plan the activities for phase two of the project. Several participants from WorldFish and AfricaRice were in attendance, as well as national stakeholders from government agencies, professional organizations, research institutions, schools and civil society organizations