Farm typology farming practices, diversity and transition to agricultural intensification in Faragouaran Municipality, Southern Mali

Since the 1970s, the Malian Textile Development Company’s (CMDT) introduction of cotton has transformed South Mali's agriculture, driving intensification, mechanisation, and farm diversification. While small, poorly equipped farms have declined, some subsistence-focused practices persist. The study aimed to characterise the typology of family farms in the context of anthropogenic pressures and territorial changes. To achieve this, semi-structured surveys were conducted on 180 farms across seven randomly selected villages. Farms were classified into six types (T1 to T6) based on cultivated area, crop distribution, livestock, equipment, and agricultural workforce. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to examine the effect of different farm types on several dependent variables. The results showed a predominance of type T4 (49%), T5 (20%), and T6 (17%) farms, which were mostly medium-scale to large-scale. Wilks' lambda test (0.473) indicated that 52.7% of the variance in dependent variables is attributed to differences between farm types. The F value of 6.478, with a p-value of 0.000, showed that these differences were statistically significant (p < 0.05). The Partial Eta Squared of 0.171 reflected a moderate effect size, suggesting that farm types account for 17.1% of the total variance in dependent variables. Significant differences were observed for each variable across the different farm types (T1 to T6). Equipment accounted for the highest proportion of explained variance (37.1%), while agricultural labor showed the lowest (12.2%). The typology highlights a marked diversity in farming systems, shaped by socioeconomic and environmental factors, within a context of gradual modernisation and pressure on resources.