Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy

Steven Haggblade, Melinda Smale, Amidou Assima, Naman Keita, Alpha Kergna, Yenizie Koné, Veronique Thériault and Abdramane Traoré, 2019. Overview and Results of a Farm Household Survey in Two Agro-Ecological Zones of Mali, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy Research Paper 143e.

Abstract

This paper summarizes principal descriptive data from farm households in two agro-ecological
zones (AEZ) of Mali; the Niger River Delta and the Koutiala Plateau. Detailed causal analysis
will follow in a series of technical working papers. The descriptive data provided here suggest
several major themes. Cropping patterns differ clearly by zone, with rice predominating as a
cash crop in the Delta, while cotton dominates in the more southerly Koutiala Plateau.
Disaggregating farm households by asset levels reveals a small but highly productive group of
motorized farms accounting for 4% of farm households but for over 15% of cash crop
production. Overall, this group enjoyed nonfarm income four times higher than other
agricultural households, enabling them to intensify agricultural production at higher rates than
animal traction households.

On the policy front, over 80% of farmers interviewed received subsidized fertilizer. Regionally,
subsidy access rates increased by 10% to 20% in areas served by the Office du Niger and the
CMDT compared to the unstructured extension zones serviced by the Directions Régionales
d’Agriculture (DRA). During the 2017/18 season, efforts to reform Mali’s fertilizer subsidy
system through the introduction of e-voucher pilot program operated on only a very small scale.
In the 60 e-voucher pilot villages surveyed, farmers received a large majority of subsidized
fertilizer through the original paper voucher system. Paper vouchers accounted for 78% of
quantity of subsidized fertilizer received by Delta farmers and for 95% in the Plateau. Reasons
for the slow start of the e-voucher pilot program are explored in other PRePoSAM reports.