title: Unraveling the Sikasso Paradox: Agricultural Change and Malnutrition in Sikasso, Mali.
abstract: When cash cropping leads to agricultural and livelihood changes in the Global South, concern about food security is common among policy makers. This is indeed the case in the Sikasso region of Mali, where many have suggested that the ubiquitous cash crop cotton is a cause of the unexpectedly high rates of malnutrition in the region. Using household and forest surveys, we found little evidence that cotton cultivation is associated with malnutrition or decreased food security at a household level, but we did find evidence of a coassociation between cotton cultivation, loss of natural capital, and malnutrition at the village level.
authors.affiliation: a Conservation International , Moore Center for Science , Arlington , Virginia , USA.|b University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Chapel Hill , North Carolina , USA.
authors.forename: Matthew William
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.affiliation: a Conservation International , Moore Center for Science , Arlington , Virginia , USA.|b University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Chapel Hill , North Carolina , USA.
authors.forename: Colin Thor
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: West
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods*; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D005523:Food Supply; D003368:Gossypium; D006801:Humans; D008302:Mali; D044342:Malnutrition; D010945:Plants, Edible; D012424:Rural Population; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: Cash cropping; Mali; cotton; ecosystem services; food security