Workshop 3-03 - University of Sussex

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?
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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. Economically these strategies
should focus on the promotion of agriculture (diversification, small-scale
irrigation, erosion control) and non-agricultural employment (small trade,
handicraft, processing of agricultural products and non-timber products).
16
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