A Climate Fund project in Mali: Building a storage building for agricultural products as a climate mitigation measure.

Naturefriends France have been cooperating with Naturefriends Mali 2ADIB-MALI for many years now – one successful example for their cooperation is the development of vegetable cultivation, benefitting the whole local community in Finkolo and its approximately 7,000 inhabitants. They especially cooperate with the local women’s cooperative. The local agriculture has profited greatly from this cooperation and productivity has increased greatly. This positive development is now endangered by the consequences of climate change. 

Finkolo is located in the South of Mali in the Sikasso region, an area in the Sahel, which particularly suffers under the impacts of climate change. The rainy season is less and less regular and predictable – leading to water shortages. The changed climatic conditions already caused up to 30% of crop failure. In addition, the harvest is stored outdoors, further endangering the agricultural products. 

The negative climatic effects become stronger every year and the locals are looking for opportunities to adapt to the changing climatic conditions. 2ADIB-MALI implemented an important project with the help of the Naturefriends Climate Fund: A storage with the capacity of 30 tons was built in order to store the agricultural products in a hygienic and climatically favorable way. Thus, the food resources and the living conditions of the local population are more sustainable and local people have access to healthy vegetables for longer time periods. The food can be stored longer and thus can be sold over a longer period of time. With this, the work of the 420 women in the cooperative will be better appreciated. Therefore, the project also plays an important role for social inclusion within the village.