Cover_Rebuilding West Africas Food Potential

174 Rebuilding West Africa’s food potential

products. This is due to the fact that MDGs take into account the overvalued domestic currency from

2007 which makes imports more competitive. It can also be noted that there is a natural protection due

to the structure of access costs, which makes imports very costly and thus allows producers to benefit

from higher prices.

Thinly traded products and key products for food security have higher MDGs, with an average of -8

percent, a figure that is stable over the period studied and that corresponds to limited competitiveness,

which is understandable for products that are generally thinly traded.

MDG indicators can be used by the government and other development actors to spot sectors

plagued by structural weaknesses, such as “excessive” access costs. These sectors may need adequate

investment to reduce transport costs, for example, or require stronger governance because of illicit

taxes and bribes levied on trade corridors. MDG indicators offer a quantitative assessment of constraints

stemming from the underdevelopment of markets; the MDG relates to the farmgate reference price

and thus allows estimation of the share of that price that would be captured by the producer if these

constraints were lifted.

5. Assessing agricultural policy coherence in Mali from 2005
   to 2010: three case studies

5.1 Policy coherence in the MAFAP analysis

The results of the MAFAP analysis have been used to assess the level of policy coherence in the food

and agricultural sector. In Mali, policy objectives are set within large policy frameworks. In this analysis,

agricultural policies are considered as an array of decisions and measures aimed at achieving the overall

objectives. Programs and projects are usually used to implement policies and are found at the end of

the policy process continuum (Figure 15).

Figure 15. Simplified representation of the policy process

Source: Authors

A study on agricultural policy coherence of the Global Donors Platform for Agricultural and Rural

Development (Wiggins et al., 2011) showed that the main risk of inconsistency lies in the proliferation

of policies, projects and programs that are subsequently cancelled and not prioritized. Indeed, in Mali,

as in other countries, it can be observed that, despite progress towards a coherent and coordinated

POLICY

FRAMEWORKS

POLICY

DECISIONS

PROGRAMS

AND PROJECTS

Long-term policies,

policy strategies, 5-year

plans, rural development

strategies

Decrees, ministerial

statements, laws,

circulars...

Activities aimed at groups

of beneficiaries, which

objectives should be in line

with policy frameworks

and decisions