International Workshop on Migration and Poverty in West Africa March 13-14, 2003 University of Sussex Recent changes in migration patterns, agricultural development and strategies to reduce poverty in the area of the “Office du Niger”, Republic of Mali Kai-Uwe Seebörger, University of Potsdam March 2003 Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Population and migration in Mali 3. Recent socio-economic development, poverty and programmes aiming at reducing poverty 4. Research questions and methods 5. History of the Office du Niger and its recent development 6. Agricultural development in the area of the Office du Niger in the Eighties and Nineties 7. The paddy boom and it’s impact on the socio-economic situation and disparities 8. The area of the Office du Niger – a new immigration zone 9. Implication for the elaboration of strategies to reduce poverty in the area of the Office du Niger 10. Future perspectives for the area of the Office du Niger: Family agriculture or large scale commercial farming? 3 1) Introduction Unfavourable agricultural conditions and lacking non-agricultural employment are among the principal reasons for poverty, food insecurity and out-migration in large areas of rural Mali. The findings of various studies suggest that there are close interrelations between agricultural development, migration, socio-economic development and poverty in rural areas of Mali (JAMIN 1994, HAAS 1995, KONE/RUTHVEN 1995, BROCK/COULIBALY 1999). In the rural development strategies of the Malian government, the extension of the areas under irrigation is considered to be a key element (MINISTERE DU DEVELOPPEMENT RURAL 2000). The main objectives of the expansion of irrigation are to increase agricultural production, to achieve food security and to reduce rural poverty. However, past experience showed that the large-scale extension of irrigation in various regions of Mali had also lead to increased socio-economic and regional disparities (LAVIGNE DELVILLE 1991, BARRIERE/BARRIERE 1995, LACHENMANN 1997). The paper discusses the various changes with regard to agricultural production, socio-economic structures and migration patterns, that took place after the successful implementation of economic and institutional reforms in the Eighties and Nineties in the irrigated area of the Office du Niger in Central Mali, the biggest irrigation scheme in West Africa. 2) Population and migration in Mali According to the results of the population census of 1998, 9.790.000 inhabitants lived in Mali. In addition, based on estimations of BOCQUIER/DIARRA (1999) approximately one million Malians live abroad, mainly in neighbouring countries. The Malian population is concentrated in the southern parts of the country, where climatical conditions for agriculture are more favourable due to higher and more regular rainfall. Large areas in Northern Mali are covered by the Sahara and almost inhabited. Migration is not a new phenomenon in Mali. Survival strategies have hinged for centuries upon movement, for example in search of pasture and farming land. Over the last forty years, however, out-migration from rural areas, especially from the draught affected regions of Northern and Central Mali, and urbanisation have reached new proportions. In 1976, 16,8 % of the Malian population lived in towns. In 1993, this share had risen to 25 % (TRAORE 1999). The population of the capital Bamako increased from 404.000 inhabitants in 1976 to one 1.016.000 inhabitants in 1998. According to the results of the 1988 population census of the Ivory Coast (CERPOD 1995a), in 1988 an estimated number of 735.000 Malians lived permanently in the Ivory Coast, whereas in 1975 there were only 349.000 Malians living in Ivory Coast (CONDE/ZACHARIAH 1981). In addition to the Malians living permanently in Ivory Coast, there is an important number of seasonal migrants from Mali, who migrate to Ivory Coast for several months. Studies of the Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches sur la Population et le Développement (CERPOD) have shown, that during the period 1988 to 1992 the popularity of the Ivory Coast for Malian migrants started to diminish. 131.000 Malians moved to the Ivory Coast, whereas in the same period 116.000 Malians returned to Mali. In comparison with the 70ies and the early 80ies, this means that the annual Malian migration losses to the Ivory Coast have decreased. The main reason for this tendency can be seen in the worsening of the economic crisis in Ivory Coast, but also in increasing tensions between the local population and immigrants. 3) Recent socio-economic development, poverty and programmes aiming at reducing poverty in Mali Mali belongs to the group of the least developed countries. The gross national income per capita was 210 US-Dollar in 2001 (UNDP 2003).The Malian economy is dominated by mainly rain-fed agriculture. In 2001, agriculture contributed with 38 % to the gross domestic product, and 4 agricultural products contributed 75 % to the export revenues. 80 % of the Malian population work in agriculture. However, it needs to stressed that even in rural areas multiple employment strategies and migration are becoming more and more important for the surviving and well-being of the population. In the rapidly growing towns, like the capital Bamako, the importance of the informal sector is steadily increasing. In the sectors of public health and education Mali has achieved a significant progress over the last ten years. However, one has to keep in mind that the initial level was very low. The annually published “Rapport national sur le Développement Humain Durable” (National report on human development) published by the Malian Ministry for Social Development, Solidarity and Elderly People contains a number of indicators about human poverty in Mali, which form the basis of the following explanations. The average life expectancy of 57 years has stagnated during the period 1992 to 1998. In the same period, the illiteracy rate for the adult population went down from 81 % to 69 %. Despite rising cereals production in the Nineties, malnutrition and food insecurity are still important problems. In 1996, 33 % of all children under three years suffered from chronic malnutrition, and 15 % of the population was affected by food insecurity. An USAID study clearly pointed out to the various interactive effects between malnutrition and health status (USAID 1998). The rate of the population living below poverty line went down slightly from 69 % in 1994 to 64 % in 2001. In 1999, 71 % of the rural population was living below poverty line (1994: 76 %), whereas the corresponding rate for the urban population was only 31,2 % (1994: 36,6 %). Significant disparities between rural and urban areas exist also with regard to access to safe drinking water. In 1998, 42 % of the urban population had access to safe drinking water (1992: 28 %), whereas in the rural areas it was only 13 % of the population (1992: 7 %). The adult illiteracy rate was 59 % in 2000. In 1991/92, only 29 % of all children visited a school, whereas in 1998/99 this rate has sharply risen to 54 %. But it needs to be stressed, that only 44 % of the girls visited a school in 1998/99 (1991/92: 29 %). The rural areas are more affected by poverty then the towns. In general rural economy is less diversified than the urban economy, which offers a broader range of employment opportunities, especially in the rapidly growing informal sector. However, due to constant rural-urban-migration and increasing degradation of job markets in towns, there is an increasing danger that even in urban areas poverty might rise in the near future. Important disparities in human development exist also between the administrative regions of Mali. To be able to measure these disparities, the Malian Ministry for Social Development, Solidarity and Elderly People uses as an indicator the “Indicateur de développement humain” (IDH), which is composed by indicators describing life expectancy, education and income. A comparison of the IDH of the seven administrative regions of Mali and the district Bamako shows clearly, that human poverty is least of all in the district Bamako. The Mopti and Timboctou regions in Central and Northern Mali are the most affected regions by human poverty. Significant are the gender-related disparities. Women are more affected by human poverty than men. In 1999, 12 % of the women were literate, whereas the corresponding rate for men was 48 %. Although women contribute 70 % to the food production, agricultural extension is still largely focusing on men. A study on the perception on poverty by the population, supervised by the Ministry for Economy and Planning, revealed that poverty was perceived by 61 % of the interviewed persons mainly as a lack of food. To 26 % of the interviewed persons poverty was synonymous with bad health conditions (MINISTERE DE L’ECONOMIE, DU PLAN ET DE L’INTEGRATION 1998). 5 A few years ago the fight against poverty became one of the priorities of the Malian government. In Mai 2002, the Malian government adopted a strategic paper called “Cadre stratégique de lutte contre la pauvreté au Mali“ (CSPL) which summarized the strategies and programmes aiming at reducing poverty in Mali. The preparation of the CSPL has seen a broad implication not only of states services, but also of non governmental organisations, the private sector and donor countries. To reduce poverty, the CSPL recommends in the short-term measures of redistribution of wealth in favour of the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups and strengthening the formal social network, which is until now still very weak. For the medium- and long-term, the CSPL recommends to integrate the short-term measures in multi-purpose strategies aiming at empowering the poor, strategies which enable the poor to undertake themselves activities to improve their economic and social situation. One of the main goals of the CSPL is to reduce the share of people living below poverty line from 64 % in 2001 to 47,5 % in 2006. To achieve this goal, the CSPL supposes that an annual growth rate of 6,7 % of the gross domestic product is required. In order to achieve this high growth rate, the CSPL underlines the necessity to promote the primary, secondary as well as the tertiary sectors. At the same time, the CSPL urges not to limit the fight against poverty on economic growth, but also to improve large-scale access to education, health services, balanced nutrition food and safe drinking water. Key elements in the CSPL strategies are participation of the target groups, good-governance and decentralisation. Let me wind up this chapter by presenting a personal point of view concerning the fight against poverty in Mali. As the rural areas are more affected by poverty then the towns, the point of focus of poverty reducing activities should be laid on rural areas. Only in the case that a significant progress is made to combat poverty in rural areas, one can assume that the volume of migrations might be reduced. This would lead to diminish the danger of increasing social conflicts and poverty in areas marked by immigration, especially towns, but also in rural areas like the cotton growing areas in Southern Mali and the area of the Office du Niger. When talking about the possibility of reducing rural out-migration by promoting economic growth, one should however not disregard the increasing social and psychological importance of migration. Especially among young Malians migration experience has become a very important social value, even, from the economic point of view, migration does not pay off. Most Malians consider someone who has not migrated once in his lifetime for a certain time as someone who is backward, and who has not seen the outside world. 4) Research questions and methods This paper summarises the major findings of a study conducted in the area of the Office du Niger from December 2001 to February 2002. The central research question of this paper is in how far the remarkable agricultural development in the area of the Office du Niger influenced the socio-economic situation and migration patterns? Did the dynamic development of irrigated agriculture contribute to reduce social disparities and poverty? Based on this analyses, proposals for poverty reducing activities are presented. In summary, the paper gives an outlook on the future development of the area of the Office du Niger. The paper is based on the major findings of an extended review of literature, of interviews with local resource persons and experts, and of household-based surveys carried out in five selected villages located in the area of the Office du Niger. The interviews and surveys focused on the socio-economic development during the preceding years and on future perspectives for the development of the area of the Office du Niger. 5) History of the Office du Niger and its recent development 6 The area of Office du Niger, the largest irrigation area in Western Africa, is located in the Ségou region in Central Mali. The Office du Niger was founded in 1932 by the French colonial government mainly to produce cotton for the French market. Farmers were brought into the newly created irrigation areas mostly by force. The final goal was to create about 1 million ha of irrigated land. But in 1960, the year of the Malian independence, only 35.000 ha to 40.000 ha were used for irrigated agriculture. After independence the Office du Niger became a state run enterprise. It became a key project in the agrarian policy of the Malian government. After the military coup in 1968 the objective of the Office du Niger changed. Cotton cultivation was abandoned, and the new objective of the Office du Niger was to increase the food self-sufficiency of Mali, especially with rice, which was mainly consumed in the rapidly growing towns. Farmers cultivated their fields under the strict supervision by the extension staff of the Office du Niger. The Office du Niger hold a monopoly on paddy marketing. By the end of the Eighties, 45.000 ha were cultivated (40.000 ha paddy, 5.000 ha sugarcane). Since the mid-Eighties a number of important reform programs were started. The number of employees of the Office du Niger was drastically reduced and its tasks limited. Farmers gained a high degree of autonomy. Paddy marketing and processing were liberalized. With massive foreign aid irrigated areas were rehabilitated and the area under irrigation was expanded. New production technologies were introduced. New decentralised micro-finance systems (“village banks”) were established, which improved access to credit and helped mobilizing the rural savings. Paddy production and yields have risen sharply in the Nineties, and this has largely contributed to a significant socio-economic development in the area of the Office du Niger, which will be discussed in the following chapters. In their analysis of the success factors, COULIBALY/JAMIN (2002) stressed that one of the key factors was, that the production technologies were to a high degree adapted to the dominating family farming systems. The devaluation of the West African Franc in 1994 also played an important role. After the devaluation, Malian rice became more competitive to imported rice and despite rising fertiliser costs the net benefits of rice farmers in the area of the Office du Niger increased. Referring to the impact of the devaluation, EGG (2002) came to the conclusion that without the various reforms of the rice sector that preceded the devaluation, only a small number of big rice traders would have profited from the devaluation. Since 1997 the Office du Niger has adopted a participatory approach which encourages the participation of the rural population in extension and rehabilitation works (for more details see COULIBALY/DISSA 2002). The beneficiaries are digging for example the tertiary irrigation canals, thus reducing significantly the costs for the development of new irrigated land. Regrettably, the success of the participatory approach is partly affected by a certain uncertainty concerning the tenure, as the beneficiaries are given for the newly created fields only annual contracts by the Office du Niger. In the recent years the Office du Niger is increasingly focusing on attracting private investments and promoting large scale commercial farming. In this respect, the Programme national d’investissement rural (PNIR) financed by the World Bank and USAID plays a key role. Investors were offered special conditions, when they were financing themselves the creation of irrigated land. For example, they were proposed long-term tenancy contracts for 50 years. A Chinese company has obtained 1.500 ha for rice farming, and an American sugar company plans to establish 8.000 to 10.000 ha of sugarcane plantations over the next eight years. Large-scale Malian investors have not yet shown up. However, there is an increasing number of small and medium size investors who have been asking the Office du Niger for the permission to create 5 to 50 hectares of irrigated land. The demand for irrigated land still exceeds by far the offer, so there is an increasing need to create new irrigated land. 6) Agricultural development in the area of the Office du Niger in the Eighties and Nineties Since the mid-Eighties, almost 50 % of the irrigated land was rehabilitated. Furthermore, the area under irrigation increased constantly (2001/02: 67.468 ha). 7 The liberalization of the paddy marketing and processing as well as improved access to irrigation water and the creation of new rural credit systems (“village banks” operating on the principle of self-management) have encouraged the rapid adoption of new production technologies. Direct seeding of paddy was replaced by transplanting seedlings. The use of chemical fertilizers has increased, although especially after the devaluation of the West African Franc fertilizer prices have sharply risen. At the same time the use of organic manure has also increased. Most households rear some cattle, which is of great importance as draft animals, and as a source of organic manure. The average yield of the rainy season paddy crop in the area of the Office du Niger has risen from 2,2 t/ha in the end of the Eighties to 5,9 t/ha in 2001/02. With a paddy production of 375.985 t, the Office du Niger produced in 2001/02 to 44,8 % of the Malian paddy production. Ten years before, in 1991/92, the Office du Niger had produced 181.000 t paddy, which corresponded to 41 % of the national production. In 1997/98, 80 % of the commercialised share of Malian rice production was produced in the area of the Office du Niger (MINISTERE DE DEVELOPPEMENT RURAL 2000). The cropping intensity has also increased. More and more areas are double cropped. In the cropping rotation, a second off-season paddy crop or vegetables are cultivated after the rainy season paddy crop. In 2001/02, offseason paddy was grown on 6.464 ha, whereas in 1996/97 the corresponding figure was only 1.034 ha. With 4,2 t per hectare the yields of the off-season paddy are lower than the yields of the rainy season crop (5,9 t/ha). As a result of a successful diversification, vegetable cultivation has sharply increased (mainly onions, which hold a 72 % share in the area cropped with vegetables). In 2001/02, vegetables were grown on 4338 ha, against 2519 ha in 1996/97. Vegetable cultivation is increasingly becoming a source of revenues. According to SOURISSEAU (2002), the share of vegetables in the overall income of farms has risen from 17 % in 1993 to 26 % in 1998. With an annual production of 72.461 t onions in 2001/02 (1993/94: 38.544 t, cited in CHOHIN 1997), the area of the Office du Niger has become the most important onion production region in Mali. A major problem of onion producers are the high seasonal price fluctuations, caused by the concentration of onion cultivation in the winter season and lacking storage facilities. Opening up new markets for the onions could ease this problem. Since the mid-Nineties, onions produced in the area of the Office du Niger are increasingly exported to neighbouring countries like Ivory Coast and Guinea (HARRE 1997). Other important crops are tomatoes, sweet potatoes, lady fingers, pepper and garlic. In the last years tomato production declined, mainly due to marketing problems, as tomatoes are easily perishable fruits, and as a state owned canning factory stopped buying tomatoes. The fruit production has also increased. Main fruits grown are mangoes and bananas. However, the development of fruit production is still affected by the tenure system (annual tenancy contracts predominate) and by the fact, that monetary income from fruit-growing can only be expected after four to five years (with the exception of more rapidly growing and yielding bananas). The number of domestic animals, mainly cattle, has constantly increased over the last two decades. DUCROT et al. (2002) estimate the number of cattle in the area of the Office du Niger at 300.000 animals, among them 43.000 draft animals (oxen). An important part of the farmers revenues from paddy cultivation is invested in cattle, and also urban and non-agricultural groups are investing in big cattle herds (COULIBALY 1996). Far more attention has been paid to the number of animals rather than to the state of the animals. Hence, productivity is quite low. Another key problem of the cattle sector is, that during the rice growing season most of the cattle is brought to pasture land outside the area of the Office du Niger. Therefore, important part of the cattle manure gets lost, whereas it would be very useful for the fertilization of the irrigated areas. 8 After the harvest of the paddy grown during the rainy season, the cattle herds return to the area of the Office du Niger, where they graze mainly on rice stubbles and straw. Cattle herds cause considerable damage on the canal system. Conflicts between herdsmen and farmers are frequent. Solutions of the problems should aim at a better integration of animal husbandry in existing agricultural systems. Although successfully tested on farmers fields (CRRA NIONO/ESPGRN 1997), fodder cultivation is still insignificant. According to JAMIN (1994) and DUTEURTRE (2000), small-scale milk processing and cattle and sheep fattening are becoming more and more popular especially around big villages and Niono, the only important urban centre in the area of the Office du Niger, where the demand for milk and milk products as well as for meat is increasing. The agricultural development in the area of the Office du Niger can not be seen independently from the development of its adjoining areas. Over the last 20 years regional disparities between the irrigated areas of the Office du Niger and the adjoining areas dominated by rain-fed agriculture have sharply increased. These disparities are largely a result of the concentration of agricultural development strategies and agricultural research institutions on irrigated rice over the last decades. However, during the same period rain-fed crops and cropping systems have been widely neglected by the agricultural research policy, as well as in the agricultural development strategies. Only cotton is an exception, as it is an important export item for Mali. 7) The paddy boom and it’s impact on the socio-economic situation and disparities Rising incomes… An overwhelming majority of farmers have managed to increase their revenues, especially due to improvements in rice production and the adoption of vegetable cultivation. An evaluation report of the Dutch cooperation published in 1992 came to the result, that the share of farmers classified as poor went down from two third in the beginning of the Eighties to one third of the total number of farmers in 1990. The report concluded that in the beginning of the Eighties the social disparities among the farmers were much bigger than in the beginning of the Nineties. Only 10 % of the farmers were considered to be wealthy, whereas two third were considered to be poor (COOPERATION AU DEVELOPPEMENT DES PAYS BAS 1992). The “Rapport national sur le Développement Humain Durable 2000” cites studies of the National Institut d’Economie Rurale, which have shown that 82 % of the interviewed farmers in the area of the Office du Niger stated that their revenues had increased in the Nineties. However, the benefits of the paddy boom have not been equally distributed. The “Rapport national sur le Développement Humain Durable 1999” dealt with the impact of the devaluation of the West African Franc on the evolution of net benefits of different farm categories between 1994 and 1998. In the rehabilitated zones, the net benefits of medium and large scale farms increased far more rapidly (87 respectively 79 % increase) than that of small farms (10 % increase). In the most productive zones the paddy boom has increased income disparities between the different type of farmers. As a result of increased revenues, the number of motorbikes, television sets and metal roofs have increased sharply and changed the physiognomy of the rice farming villages. They have become symbols of increased wealth in the area of the Office du Niger. The paddy boom and the rapid population growth have turned Niono into an important regional commercial centre, which has also seen the creation of an increasingly important number of non-agricultural employment (trade, craft and reparation, services, etc.). Non-agricultural employment opportunities have also become more frequent in a number of larger villages, which are rapidly transformed into small towns (like N’Débougou and Séribala). The liberalisation of the rice market and the emergence of an onion market has sharply increased the number of traders and has created numerous 9 secondary employment opportunities, also for women, for instance in onion marketing and processing, which is according to CHOHIN (1997) dominated by women. Not only the fertiliser prises and the water fees, that have risen significantly, but also the households expenditures for taxes, food, clothing and all kind of consumer goods, have sharply increased over the last 15 years. Landless poor, and especially agricultural labourers have been profiting from the rising number of employment opportunities in agriculture, mainly for rice transplantation, harvest and threshing. They also managed to find employment in non-agricultural sectors, like transport, small trade, handicraft and construction. Rising production costs and expenditures have largely contributed to the fact that indebtedness has become one of the major problems of an increasing number of farmers. Once the liabilities have reached a critical level, numerous heavily indebted farmers see no other solution than to sell their labour force and lease out – illegally - a part of their fields to wealthy farmers or members of urban and non-agricultural groups. In an extreme case farmers end up as agricultural labourers on their own fields cultivated now by wealthy sub-tenants. … but also rising production costs and expenditures Not only the incomes in creased, also the production costs and other expenditures increased. In the course of the intensification, the demand as well as the expenditures for agricultural labourers increased rapidly. The labour demand for one hectare of rice grown in the rainy season is 170 man days per ha, when the rice seedlings are transplanted into the fields. When the rice is directly sown in the fields, only 100 man days per hectar are needed (COULIBALY/JAMIN 2002). Especially when double cropping is adopted, there is a growing necessity to strengthen family labour by employing agricultural labours to cope with critical labour peaks. Fertiliser prices increased sharply, and this poses a serious problem especially to small farmers who can’t afford to buy the quantities of fertilisers recommended by the extension service of the Office du Niger. This results in losses in terms of production and revenues from rice farming. Furthermore, this problem risks to aggravate the crisis, as later on farmers would not have the required financial means to buy fertilisers. Consequently yields would drop even more, and the danger of indebtedness would rise. These problems look like a kind of vicious circle, also because the underdeveloped formal financial sector (banks) is not offering specific credits which respond to the specific needs of small farmers. As a result most of the small farmers depend on traders for loans. Impact on the socio-economic differentiation and disparities Population growth, the breaking up of larger farms into small farming units and lacking possibilities to increase the size of farms have led to a constant diminution of the average farm size, which went down from 4,54 ha per family in 1987 to 3,02 ha in 1998 (SOURISSEAU 2002). This had serious economic consequences for one part of the farming population. The “Rapport national sur le Développement Humain Durable 1999” stressed that in 1996/97 57 % of the farms in the area of the Office du Niger cultivated less than 4 ha. The average annual income per head (80.000 FCFA) was below poverty line. The average annual income per head increased with the farm size. In farm cultivating between 4 and 10 ha (33 % of the holdings) it was 120.000 FCFA, and in farms cultivating more than 10 ha (10 % of the holdings) it was even 177.000 FCFA. These figures clearly show that despite the rice boom poverty is still high. They also clearly underline the importance of intensifying the efforts to promote small farmers as well as non-agricultural employment. SOURISSEAU/YUNG (2002) described the socio-economic differentiation at the end of the Nineties as follows: One third of the farmers were living under precarious conditions. These farmers practiced a far more simple production system and had hardly any investment capacity. They tried to diversify their income sources by selling their workforce, but the revenues 10 were relatively low and unreliable. Often they became increasingly indebted without a real chance of becoming free of debt. formed by former employees of the Office du Niger, who were dismissed in the aftermath of the reform of the Office du Niger. At the other hand, two third of the farmers were able to accumulate a part of their revenues. Only 20 % of the farmers had chosen a strategy to invest massively in non-agricultural activities (rice threshing and husking machines, transport, trade), a strategy that allowed them to broaden the range of income sources and employment and that made them less depending on agriculture. This strategy implicates a higher risk and demands certain entrepreneurial skills. However, the remaining 80 % of the farmers preferred to invest in cattle and buildings. The common major problem of both type of farmers is the lacking of possibilities to increase the farming area. In many places, there are simply no possibilities to accumulate irrigated land, and over the years the cultivated area per active person is going down. Which were the socio-economic consequences of the increased implication of urban and non-agricultural groups in rice farming? Since the end of the Eighties, the number of agricultural labourers has rapidly increased (NAUDET 1996). This group is formed by migrants from other region of Mali, but also by small farmers who finally ended up by loosing the land which they leased with the Office du Niger. Regrettably, there is no reliable data material about the number of agricultural workers. Even when they managed to find employment, the majority of landless is still leading a vulnerable life, as salaries are still quite low and employment is often only of seasonal nature. Nevertheless, one can come to the conclusion that the improved employment situation has led to a gradual diminishing of poverty of the landless poor. The increased implication of urban and non-agricultural groups in rice farming can be seen as a another important sign for an increasingly complex socio-economic differentiation, that took place in the area of the Office du Niger since the Eighties. Mainly as a combined result of the successful introduction of new production packages and the liberalisation of the rice market, members of urban and non-agricultural groups (for example civil servants, military men and traders) showed increasing interest in rice farming mainly as an opportunity to diversify and increase their revenues. An other important group was To the dismissed employees of the Office du Niger, the possibility of cultivating has surely helped to reduce the risk to become poor. However, the local farmers, as the most important population section of the area of the Office du Niger, were and are still facing more and more competition by urban and non-agricultural groups. Very often local farmers find themselves in the weaker position, as members of urban and nonagricultural groups use their political, economic and social influence to obtain tenancy contracts. The competition diminishes the farmers chances to expand farming area, and increases in the long term the risk of impoverishment. Some of the new “absentee” farmers live as far away as in Bamako or other regions of Mali. To cultivate their fields, they depend heavily on agricultural labourers. The “absentee” farmers have contributed to the rising demand for agricultural labourers, which has allowed to a significant number of landless and small farmers to improve their employment and income situation. Reliable data material on the actual degree of land concentration in the hands of wealthy farmers and members of urban and non-agricultural groups is hardly available, also because often they are acting in a hidden or masked manner. New sub-tenancy systems and their socio-economical impact As access to irrigated land is of enormous importance for the socioeconomic status of most of the inhabitants in the area of the Office du Niger, the large-scale development of sub-tenancy systems needs to be treated. Farmers or landless, but also members of urban and nonagricultural groups, who did not manage to lease land directly from the 11 Office du Niger, try to become for a certain period sub-tenants of tenants of the Office du Niger, though it is strictly forbidden to tenants of the Office du Niger to lease their land to other persons. For instance, heavily indebted (small) farmers lease out land to bigger farmers, and with a part of the received money they manage to pay the annual water fees. By doing so, they avoid having their land repossessed by the Office du Niger due to lack of water fee payment. Another increasingly common sub-tenancy system is practised after the harvest of the paddy grown during the rainy season rice. Farmers lease out a part of the harvested fields to sub-tenants (often landless) or to family members, who grow mainly onions on the leased land. After the onion harvest the sub-tenants pay a fixed amount of money or a part of the onion production. To the sub-tenants, this systems offers the advantage of gaining employment for some months and to increase their revenues. Family members can very often keep the revenues for themselves and have thus an own income. This sub-tenancy system has significantly contributed to the recent onion boom. The Office du Niger does hardly anything against the expanding subtenancy systems. Sub-tenancy systems contribute partly to a higher cropping intensity, which is in the interest of the Office du Niger. Furthermore, one can estimate that also a significant number of the staff of the Office du Niger is implicated one way or the other in sub-tenancy systems. New forms of cooperation The intensification of rice farming has led to the emergence of new forms of cooperation. Numerous women and youth associations have been found, whose main income source is the transplantation of rice seedlings. BARRY (1997) came to the conclusion that in a number of cases, the profits made by these associations serve to improve local health and education infrastructures and to create income-generating activities. Furthermore, the creation of the associations has improved the organisation capacities and solidarity among disadvantaged groups of the rural population. Impact on the health situation and education Health problems caused by water-borne diseases are a major problem for the rural population. Although the number of health stations has increased in the Nineties, partly with help from non-governmental organisations, diseases like malaria, bilharzias and diarrhoea still pose a major problem mainly to the poorer sections of the population who, as NDJOCK TECKY (2001) underlined, often can not afford the rising costs of medicines or even hospital treatments. On the household level, the intensification and diversification of the agriculture has created numerous new employment opportunities for women, which has lead to increased incomes and partly to more economic autonomy. On the other hand, the increasing implication has even further increased the already high work load of women. The increased work load of women has had to a certain degree a negative impact on child care, nutrition and –health, as women had less time to look correctly after their children. This is surely a negative side effect impact of the rice-boom. In the education system, the number of village schools as well as the share of children visiting a school have seen a sharp rise over the last ten years. However, especially poorer families can not afford to send (all of) their children to school as their workforce is needed on the families fields or to contribute to the family incomes. Impact on other regions of Mali The assessment of the poverty reducing impact of the rice boom should not be strictly limited on the area of the Office du Niger itself. By producing an important surplus of rice, the area contributes in an important manner to the nations food security. Every year, ten thousands of seasonal migrants especially from frequently drought affected regions of central and northern Mali work for some months in the area. By doing so, they ensure an important monetary transfer from the area of the Office du Niger to their home regions, where the savings of the migrants, according to the findings of studies conducted by HAAS 12 (1995) and LACHENMANN (1997), contribute significantly to the households budget and reduce to a degree vulnerability and poverty. 8) The area of the Office du Niger – a new immigration zone Since the Seventies the area of the Office du Niger attracted an increasing number of migrants from other regions of Mali, especially from the drought affected areas in Northern and Central Mali. The total number of members of tenants families of the Office du Niger has increased from 58.841 persons in 1981/82 to 122.023 persons in 1991/92 to 270.289 persons in 2001/2002. It is important to underline, that these figures do not include persons belonging to families not having leased land with the Office du Niger. TEME/TONNEAU (2002) estimated the overall population living in the area of the Office du Niger at 360.000 persons. The population census conducted in 1976, 1987 and 1998 indicate the population growth in the different administrative units. From 1976 to 1987, the population of the Niono cercle, the most important paddy cultivation zone of the Office du Niger, doubled from 79.584 to 161.381 inhabitants. Between 1987 and 1998, the population of the Niono cercle grew by 3,2 % per year (1998: 227.669 inhabitants), whereas the corresponding growths rates were 2,1 % for the Ségou region (in which the area of the Office du Niger is located) and 2,2 % for the whole country. The former arrondissement Niono in central Niono cercle showed with an annual growth rate of 4,0 % (1987 – 1998) the fastest population growth of all rural arrondissements in Mali. Its growth rate was only exceeded by those of two rural arrondissements close to the capital Bamako, where a rapid suburban development took place. Until the beginning of the Nineties there was an important seasonal outmigration after the paddy harvest in November/December. Mainly young men left for other regions within Mali in order to find work for some months. They returned to their villages at the beginning of the new paddy season. With the intensification of the paddy-based cropping systems in the Nineties, the seasonal out-migration from the area of the Office du Niger has almost stopped. The intensification offered a lot of new employment opportunities mainly in the diversified agriculture operations and increased the income of most of the farming-based households. Less and less inhabitants of the area of the Office du Niger felt a necessity to migrate in order to earn money elsewhere. As a response to the increased labour demand due to intensification, more and more farmers started employing agricultural labourers, especially for labour intensive activities like transplanting of rice seedlings and harvesting and threshing of paddy. COULIBALY/JAMIN (2002) estimate, that 45 % of the rice transplantation work is done by agricultural labourers. Agricultural labourers are also increasingly employed in vegetable cultivation. The results of a study conducted by PASQUIER (1996) show that one third of the work related to vegetable cultivation is done by hired labour. The increasing demand for agricultural labourers attracted more and more seasonal migrants. Often they first stay for few months in a year, and later they settle down in the zone of the Office du Niger, so that the seasonal migration pattern turns more and more into a permanent migration pattern. So far, only few of the migrants managed to obtain leased land from the Office du Niger. Most of the migrants work as agricultural labourers or they become sub-tenants of the tenant farmers of the Office du Niger. As a result of the paddy boom, more and more people from all over Mali are moving to the zone of the Office du Niger. It is important to stress that not only poor people searching for employment and food migrate to the area of the Office du Niger. With rice farming and marketing becoming more rewarding as an income source, the area of the Office du Niger attracted also an increasing number of members of urban and non-agricultural groups form all over Mali. These people generally prefer settling down in Niono or in big villages and only rarely in the villages, where they cultivate paddy fields. 13 Migration-related questions were taken into consideration by some rehabilitation projects, which aimed, among other goals, at settling immigrants from the draught-affected areas of Northern Mali. But in reality immigrants benefited only to a very limited degree. In his study on the Retail rehabilitation project CHOHIN (1994) came to the conclusion, that the initial goal of the project, to give a part of the rehabilitated highly productive land to immigrants from Northern Mali, was not at all achieved because the land initially reserved for the immigrants was finally given to members of urban and non-agricultural groups, who knew very well to use their good relations to the staff of the Office du Niger in order to obtain tenancy contracts. Due to the massive immigration combined with high natural growth of the local population, space is becoming more and more limited in an increasing number of villages of the Office du Niger and in Niono, where the population has doubled in the last ten years (2001: 22.000 inhabitants). Also the possibilities of creating non-agricultural activities (for instance: handicraft, trade, processing of agricultural products) are affected by the lack of suitable land. Not only the demand for housing is rising as a result of immigration. An increasing number of inhabitants means also an increasing demand for health and education services. Furthermore, the already high demand for fuel wood, the dominating energy source, will further increase pressure on the increasingly overexploited wood resources especially in the Niono area. The massive seasonal migration from the adjoining areas of the Office du Niger into the irrigation area increases the regional disparities between irrigated and non-irrigated areas. The massive seasonal migration from the adjoining areas of the Office du Niger reduces the manpower available in these areas for the much needed improvement of rain-fed agriculture. This leads to a further deepening of the existing regional disparities and diminishes the possibility of reducing rural poverty and improving foodsecurity in the non-irrigated areas. 9) Implications for the elaboration of strategies to reduce poverty in the area of the Office du Niger The results of this study may also assist in elaborating strategies to reduce poverty. To almost all landless and small farmers, the possibility of obtaining some irrigated land respectively obtaining additional land is almost synonymous with a significant step out of poverty. However, their chances to obtain a tenancy contract with the Office du Niger are very low. Past experience has shown that an important number of small farmers, who managed to obtain tenancy contracts, were confronted with serious financial, technical and organisational problems during the first years. So the question must be asked which measures should be taken to allow landless and small farmers to profit at the maximum from the newly obtained land and to reduce their poverty and vulnerability. In order to facilitate new tenants to gain rapidly the needed experiences in irrigated agriculture, the agricultural extension services should pay more attention to specific problems of new tenants. Furthermore, specific credit facilities should be offered to new tenants in order to avoid that they rapidly accumulate considerable amounts of debts. The Office du Niger tested recently a promising approach involving newly created private service centres (for more details see KLEENE 2002). As debt has become a major problem, farmers are trained on how to use more effectively their revenues and to avoid indebtedness. Farmers are trained how to optimise the use of expensive inputs like fertilisers and to apply simple bookkeeping methods. Furthermore, farmers are taught strategies on how to avoid selling their products at low prices and to improve storage of agricultural products. When taking into consideration that the demand for irrigated land bypasses largely the offer, it becomes obvious that it is an illusion to think that giving irrigated land to rural poor is the ultimate solution. Other activities allowing to reduce poverty should be identified and implemented. The promotion of non-agricultural activities (by offering specific credits, technical training, training in management and marketing) could create new employment opportunities, from which directly and indirectly also the poor would benefit. 14 The promotion of adopted onion storage facilities could help reducing the high seasonal price fluctuations and increasing farmers revenues. In addition to that, COULIBALY (1998) recommended a large-scale introduction of onion processing (drying). According to DIAKITE (1998) there is an important market potential for dried onions especially in urban centres, mainly Bamako. SPINAT/TRAORE (2002) pointed out to the necessity to enlarge the decentralised micro-finance systems and to adopt them simultaneously to the changing demand for credits. The micro-finance systems as well as the village associations will have to play an important role for (co-) financing the extensions and diversification of agriculture as well as non-agricultural activities, representing basic conditions for the consolidation and future development of family farms. In the domain of health, special emphasis should be placed on activities which aim at the prevention of diseases (for example using impregnated mosquito nets). Awareness building campaigns about balanced nutrition could help fighting malnutrition and maximise at the same time the potential for vegetable and fruit growing as well as for highly nutritive crops like beans and peanuts, which until now are cultivated on irrigated land in very small scale. 10) Future perspectives for the area of the Office du Niger: Family agriculture or large scale commercial farming? According to long-term planning documents of the Office du Niger, cited in TEME/TONNEAU (2002), the Office du Niger intends to create 30.000 to 50.000 ha new irrigated land over the next 20 years. One of the most important obstacles to the planned extensions is the lack of financial resources. Until now, for the financing of the extensions the Office du Niger is mainly depending on foreign assistance. For the period 20022004, the Office du Niger plans to develop 15.000 ha new irrigated land, but so far it has only obtained funding for 7.425 ha (most important donors: World Bank, Netherlands) (OFFICE DU NIGER 2001). To reduce its dependence on foreign funding, the Office du Niger is counting more and more on private investors. Until now a certain uncertainty prevails concerning the question whether the investors s will finally show up or not. One of the key question is whether the Malian government will change the land rights in the sense of allowing land ownership, which would give potential investors a higher investment security. A possible privatisation of irrigated land is actually object of a highly controversial discussion. The advocates of privatisation argue that only long term contracts, or even better ownership titles would push investors to invest massively in the development of irrigated land and that the introduction of large scale commercial farming would significantly boost the agricultural production. However, critics fear that the privatisation and the development of a land market would lead to further concentration of land. They point out the risk, that a lot of small farmers might increasingly loose their land and that social disparities will increase. In order to secure their future, family farms need to consolidate and expand their cultivated area. Their investment capacities to finance themselves the development of new irrigated land are rather limited. With the promotion of large scale commercial farming and private investment by the Office du Niger, the family farmers risk to find themselves in a situation, where their needs for new irrigated land will be considered by the Office du Niger and the donors only of secondary importance. The introduction of large scale commercial farming represents certain risks in regard to their economic profitability. In contrast to the family farms, they will use more machines, thus increasing the production costs. As a result of higher production costs, for example, the rice cultivated by large scale commercial farms risks to be more expensive than the rice produced by family farms or rice imports. Furthermore, large scale commercial farms might face more problems to mobilize the necessary (qualified) agricultural labourers. The successfully tested and introduced production technologies, which are based on the 15 specific needs and conditions of family farms, will only partly be of use to large scale commercial farms. It is not safe to assume that the successful adoption of certain production technologies by family farms could be successfully copied by large scale commercial farms. Concerning the future orientation of the development strategies of the Office du Niger, it is appears to be wise to adopt a strategy that combines the continued promotion of family farms with the innovative promotion of large scale commercial farming. Managing the coexistence of the two strategies will surely not be an easy task for the Office du Niger, but to me there is no alternative to this coexistence, that will, at least to a certain degree, avoid undesirable negative socio-economic impacts like increasing disparities between rich and poor. The future of the Office du Niger depends also on the future of the world trade with agricultural goods. According to some studies there is an important potential especially for Malian rice exports to the neighbouring coastal countries (CAE 1999, BARRY 2002) which could contribute to boost the future development of the area of the Office du Niger. But a big risk is certainly that rice imports for example from Asian countries might be cheaper on the markets of the neighbouring countries than Malian rice. Concerning the future development of agriculture, TEME/TONNEAU (2002) proposed to concentrate less on rice cultivation and to attach instead more importance to the development of dairy farming and fruit and vegetable cultivation. At the same time, rain fed-farming and animal husbandry in the adjoining areas should be improved. In its annual report 2001/02, the Office du Niger has clearly acknowledged the fact that it’s intervention area has become an increasingly important migration pole. It stresses the importance of expanding the irrigated area and intensifying and diversifying the cropping systems, that would also offer people from other regions of Mali employment opportunities and the much needed income. Consequently, the necessity for Malian migrants to search for employment abroad would be reduced. This topic has gained even more importance in view of the recent crisis in Ivory Coast, which forced thousands of Malians to leave the country. The discussion of the future development of the area of the Office du Niger can not be disconnected from its various interrelations with the adjoining areas. In order to stimulate economic growth in these areas, to reduce poverty and to slow down out-migration, multi-sector development strategies for these areas must be elaborated. 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