Informing Food Security Policy in Mali: Interactions between Technology, Institutions and Market Reform

摘要

The purpose of the study was to examine constraints to farmers' and private traders' capacity and willingness to invest in order to improve performance of coarse grains production and distribution in Mali. Primary data were collected between October 1985 and October 1987 with a panel of 190 households and 118 wholesalers. The study found 43% of households to be net buyers of cereals, very high concentration of coarse grains sales (90% of sales are from 28% of households). Net sellers of grains are also large cotton farmers. While cash crop and nonfarm activities improved household food security, constraints to investing in improved technologies, were attributed to rigid head taxes, poor access to formal financing and uncertainties about market conditions and public interventions. The study recommended paying special attention to synergies between cash crops, food crops and nonfarm activities and synergies between policy reform, technology adoption and capital formation.