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This article discusses agro-pastoralist exchanges in Mali. This has increase following the Sahelian droughts of the 1970s and 1980s, in which pastoralists have moved southwards with their herds, into wetter, more productive environments; cultivators are increasingly investing in livestock as the plough replaces the hoe. This paper investigates the interactions brought about by the co-existence of herds and agriculture in a village setting.

The article concludes that:

• agro-pastoral exchanges facilitate agricultural intensification
• such exchanges are certainly valuable where they permit households to become familiar with technologies and farming systems that have been mastered only by better off farmers
• there needs to be a broader recognition of the viability of the cereal-based Fulani farming system
• the agricultural sector is undergoing an increasing level of intensification which co-exists with a growing number of animals. Such a co-existence is based on a number of exchanges between crops and livestock

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