• In recent years, weed control has become a constant concern of producers. The influence of weed durably impacted on producvity and has even increased. • More weeding acvies are performed by women, but these ac- vies are manually conducted; increasing the hardship . • However, very lile informaon exists on the parcipaon of women in weeding techniques in Mali and Niger. • baCkground • The first objecve of this study was to understand the implicaon of women in weeding acvies which are highly labour consuming in sorghum and millet producon. • The second objecve was to explore the use of chemical herbicides and the distribuon of roles related to the various weeding tech- niques in the four areas. • objeCtives • In Mali, surveys were conducted in five villages in the circle of Kou- ala (Nampossela, N'gonianasso, Sirakelé, Zanzoni and Mpèssoba), four villages in the circle of Bougouni (Dieba, Flola, Madina Kourou- lamini and Sibirila). • In Niger, surveys were conducted in five villages of the region of Tahoua (Bazaga, Bulke, Tsarnaoua, Tcherassa Mangou. Kaky) and five villages of the region of Maradi (Acha Bissa, Dan Tchiro, Dillo, Gounnaka, Massaourari). • Quantave and qualitave data were collected among 359 women in Mali and 166 in Niger. • methodology • Pre-test in Dieba (Bougouni’s region) • Individual interviews with producers in Mali (Kouala, Bougouni) and Niger (Tahoua and Maradi) between May and July 2015 • Descripve analysis and report wring between August and Decem- ber 2015 • Using gender dimension framework • aCtivities • Use of parcular weeds control techniques depends on the level of equipment and the training of farmers (Figure 1) ; • Manual weeding is largely performed by women. In Mali, about 94% of women performed weeding with hoe and 98% in Niger. • In Mali, about 37% of women spend between 15 and 30 days in the weeding with hoe two weeks afer sowing (Figure 2) and 66% spend between 1 and 15 days in the two week weeding with hoe in Niger (Figure 3). • Very few women’ farmers use herbicide to control for weeds. • results and main aChievements • No gender dimension exist for weed control techniques; however a specific technique can be widely used by one gender than the other depending on the level of equipment, knowledge or training; • In Mali, some farmers use herbicides to control weeds for millet and sorghum producon but this technique is not used in Niger; • Women highly depend on men to performe herbicide sprays and use of oxen in weeding control in the villages of Kouala and Bougouni in Mali. • ConClusions •Current partnerships Partnership with AMEDD in Mali and INRAN in Niger. - Bougouna SOGOBA, Associaon Malienne d’Eveil au Développement Durable (AMEDD), Kouala, Mali. [email protected] - Germaine IBRO, Department of Economy, Rural Sociology and Technology Transfert, Instut Naonal de la Recherche Agronomique du Niger (INRAN), Niamey, Niger. [email protected] Women weeding activities for millet and sorghum production in Mali and Niger Almamy Sylla 1 , Alphonse Singbo 1 & Wenda Bauchspies 2 1 International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) 2 National Science Foundation (NSF), USA Corresponding author email: [email protected]