Rebuilding the Local Landscape by Chris Howorth

Author:Chris Howorth [Howorth, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, General
ISBN: 9780429816918
Google: ITiDDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-01-04T04:50:37+00:00

The Farming System of the Mossi

The Mossi employ a ring management system8 of crop and soil management which has been imported from their zones of origin into Sissili. In the Mossi ring management system, the fields are located in rings around the compound. It is still apparent that these rings correspond to the household, village and bush fields because of the type and nature of crops grown on them.

There is a distinction in both Nuni and Mossi production systems of household fields, village fields and bush fields. These terms refer to fields which are both spatially different and also fulfil different household needs that correspond to diverse crop types in the different fields. The household field is, as the name suggests, adjacent, or, in close proximity to the compound. Here high value crops are located which require relatively high inputs such as fertiliser, labour and sometimes water (see Table 3.1). The village field is located in the spaces between compounds in the village and is used for staple foods, which require larger surface areas. Again, investment in these fields is still relatively high. The bush fields can be as far as six km away from the compound, but are usually much nearer (normally from 1.5 to four km from the house). Here staple crops are cropped on large land parcels.

In the Mossi ring management system the first ring corresponds to the household field. These fields receive the highest inputs and, in a study by Prudencio9 (1993), it was shown that nine tonnes of manure per hectare were added to these first fields.

Table 3.1 Crops and their roles in the first ring/household field

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