21/10/03JB Mali ROA Rome1 COMMENTS FOR THE MALI REPORT Jacques Brossier Thanks for giving the opportunity to comment Mali report and giving sometimes comments

21/10/03 JB Mali ROA Rome 1

COMMENTS FOR THE MALI REPORT

Jacques Brossier•Thanks for giving the opportunity to comment Mali report and giving sometimes comments on ROA •The following remarks incorporate some made by F Dévé, J Vercueil, P Warren, F Bresciani concerning the various modules produced by the Mali team •The existence and the realisation of ROA is already a strong political signal for international community and particularly for Mali


General comments • Mali is a poor land lock country with very low

monetization, high internal consumption in basic production areas. This makes monetary quantification of externalities extremely difficult : even in developed countries, monetary quantification of all that falls outside the market economy is not easy, so here it is practically impossible. This point is well recognized by the authors

• However, the team put more effort on descriptive analysis alternative to shed the light on externalities with regard to agriculture in the context of Mali.

• Thus, the innovative work undertaken in a difficult context must be praised.

• The report is impressive, there are new syntheses, even if the analysis is based on rather thin quantitative data, the qualitative ones and the comprehensive approach supply in part


This work has proven very useful :

• firstly for ROA because the situation in Mali is not unique, it is indicative of other cases and therefore important to consider

• also for planning in Mali concerning economic research and policy priorities

• group training for IER researchers should also be pointed out since, in this way, they continue to measure themselves against international requirements


Comments on the different modules Module 1: Environmental externality

• The report is interesting, rich and informative in the effort of synthesis even if I question why the Malian team does not go further to exploit more the existing information in both chosen areas

• Equipment and methods are insufficiently presented• AS :Office du Niger. The authors make the

hypothesis that positive externalities appear dominant, we can agree, but this impression needs confirming. Most of these externalities have not been evaluated economically, in terms of hidden benefits/profits not included in rice-based systems (an interesting effort was done for Durban economic conference)


• AS : CMDT zone. There is no new processing of IER data, particularly concerning southern Mali, and in this area, in my opinion compilation is incomplete. Localised community action undertaken in certain villages to protect the environment has not been included and evaluated (erosion control, integration of crop-livestock farming, forage crops, etc).

• Implications regarding farming policy are important : reinforcing local stakeholder capacity (decentralised authorities, farmer organisations, all groups involved in development ) seems efficient ways to reduce the impact of these negative externalities


Module 2 : Agricultural growth and poverty reduction.

• Poverty is a « public bad » and reduction of poverty is thus a public good.

• The extraordinary progress over the past 10 years due to growth in the two selected areas must be underlined.

• Following Cancun, a special point on cotton : The crucial and global Role (ROA) of cotton in several African countries, well documented in Mali, must be stressed : supply of revenue, food security (corn), village development,. In these countries, cotton allows the food support logic to be replaced by a growth logic.


• Also, for all this data, would it not be possible to have a few comparisons with neighbouring countries in order to ascertain whether Mali performs better or worse than these other countries?

• Policy recommendations need to be redefined, they are conventional and limited : redistribution, social mechanisms


Module 3 : Agriculture and Food security in Mali

• The positive role played by settling of the workforce involved in farming development in the two expanding areas (especially the the Office du Niger zone) has been noted and this compensates slightly for migratory flows

• The authors highlight the flexibility of producers, processors, market operators in responding to internal and external demand, this proves yet again that agents are economically rational in seizing opportunities which need to be increased


Policy /political aspects

• Food policy or farming policy : work should be carried out on the intersections between these two policies. Previously, in traditional societies, they coincided. Nowadays, they are often disconnected creating risks : take the case of Argentina, where farming and food policies have been completely disconnected.

• Eating (social act) is not the same as feeding (purely biological act). And some foodstuffs are inherent to culture.

• Essential factors in diminishing food security : poverty and low revenue, there is a lack of guidance/control concerning farmers. Emphasis should be put on the process (securitization) which leads to food security, and also on the fragile nature of this process (food vulnerability : coping with risk). This process must be based on production units, land units.


Module 4 : Agriculture et 1994 devaluation

• The buffer role (social role) has been evaluated through the CFA devaluation. Several aspects of this module are connected with the question of poverty, they probably need to be linked more closely because a number of incoherencies remain. Performance is fairly positive overall. It must be said that the two zones, especially southern Mali, benefited greatly from the devaluation which was conducive to exports, made imports more expensive, encouraging producers to aim more for the internal market


Module 5 : Agriculture and migration

• The study provides an informative and interesting viewpoint on emigration – there is some potential for a new look at the question « transformation of agriculture - migratory movement in Mali ».

• The document does not completely illustrate the role of agriculture in these migratory movements, in the national demographic balance, rural-urban but also between rural areas, nor the challenges posed by these movements.

• Is it possible to study the urban costs related to size and growth of the towns

• Data on internal migration show that net movement is the result of high movement in opposite directions, which suggests that the study of emigration and immigration movements would be more instructive than the total net movement


Module 6 : Cultures et perceptions.

• Excellent module.

• Taking account the constraint of time, I would not say more


The main policy implications proposed by Mali

• This looks a little like a catalogue, but certain propositions are interesting and important.

• The magnitude of the negative externalities linked to the environment call for the strengthening of capacity of local actors (decentralized communities, farmers organizations) and the awareness of development partners of the problem.

• Therefore, information needs to be sought about these local and family collectivities, and the solidarity that exists, support them, and use them as the basis for definition of national policy priorities.

• Shrinking the role of the state and creating decentralized collectivities call for strengthening the capacity of local institutions. The question is: is it wise to ask the State to relinquish its role in this area?


Final general remarks• Mali, as most ROA projects have underestimated the

relations between modules without sufficiently emphasizing the overall picture (trans-modularity).

• The econometrics analysis is based on a coherent theory and quantification which is always possible; this is normal and useful. What about reliability?

• This is difficult in Mali. What is the risk of impoverishment in the analysis. This focalization, which does not necessitate good knowledge of the field and the reality of the difficulties involved, it can be passed over, can be total ignorance or lack of consideration of social relations.

• Obviously, one can say that, since the research is carried out in each country by national researchers, disconnection with reality can be avoided. Maybe, but the risk does exist.

Documents

21/10/03JB Mali ROA Rome1 COMMENTS FOR THE MALI REPORT Jacques Brossier Thanks for giving the opportunity to comment Mali report and giving sometimes comments