Sorghum and pearl millet are the most important stable crops in the drylands of West Africa. This four-year study based on two experiments assessed different low-cost methods for intensification of sorghum and millet production under contrasting rainfall conditions in Mali. Experiment 1 assessed the microdosing rates 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 g NPK hill(-1) combined with seed priming across four locations in Mali while Experiment 2 assessed the cumulative effects of the seed priming, seed treatment with pesticide, microdosing and urea top dressing. In central Mali, there was a clear effect of seed priming while there was no such effect in southern Mali with better rainfall conditions. In central Mali, the microdosing rate of fertilizer of 0.4 g NPK hill(-1) (4 kg NPK ha(-1)) performed best, while in southern Mali the microdosing rate of 0.8 g NPK hill(-1) (20 kg NPK ha(-1)) gave the best result. Experiment 2 showed that there was a clear effect of top dressing of 1 g urea hill(-1) (25 kg urea ha(-1)) in southern Mali while no such effect was apparent in central Mali. In general, there was a better response to microdosing in sorghum than in pearl millet. A decision tree for crop and fertilizer management in Mali was developed, taking into consideration rainfall, crop choice, use of seed priming and microdosing rates.