Accelerated Economic Growth Team Opportunities and Investment Strategies to Improve Food Security and Reduce Poverty in Mali through the Diffusion of Improved Agricultural Technologies

Executive Summary This document reviews the potential agricultural technologies that exist or can feasibly be produced to help promote poverty reduction and food security in Mali in the next 5 to 10 years. Overall there are a plethora of good technologies either available, in the pipeline, or feasible with a small amount of research effort. In many cases succeeding in poverty reduction and increasing food security will not be about choosing the exact right technology, but about helping farmers access and know about a panoply of available technologies from which they can choose the right one to maximize their future potential. Mali has seen significant agricultural growth in the last 20 years, with increases both in areas cultivated and yields in almost all sectors and large increases in livestock production. The next decade could be a key moment when the country turns the corner from self-sufficiency toward a producer of quality food for its people and major agricultural exporter to the region and internationally or one in which it slides back toward subsistence production. The generation, adaptation, adoption, and diffusion of new agricultural technologies will be a key ingredient in determining which of these two directions becomes a reality. A number of forces external to the agricultural sector are likely to have a significant effect on the ability of the agricultural sector to grow in the next decade. The Malian economy is likely to continue growing at a reasonably fast pace (3-5%) with new mineral and oil discoveries as well as a likely future up-tick in remittances pushing the economy forward. This mineral export led growth will likely produce increased competition with agriculture for labor and combined with international migration and an increased emphasis on schooling for children, will produce labor shortages and higher labor costs in rural areas. That said, persistently high levels of population growth will continue to demand agricultural production. If economic growth continues as predicted, wealthier urban populations will start demanding higher quality and higher protein foods, fish and livestock products, for which Mali has great as yet mostly untapped potential. The predictions for climate change are for increased volatility of weather patterns although they are unclear on whether that means less or more rain on average. Since Malian farmers are already well versed in how to deal with a stochastic environment this may not affect Malian agriculture as much as it would other places in …