Chapter 13. Rice in Mali: Policies for competitive and inclusive value chain development 421
Figure 2. Illustration of the disconnect between domestic supply and consumption in Mali
0200400600800100012001994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004(^)
Years
Consump on
Produc on
Imports
Source: FAO Stat (2012)
Unless national production is revitalized, the gap is expected to continue to become larger as imports
increase. Malian producers not only face the challenge of meeting new demand, but also of reducing
imports. As the world rice market ceases to be a residual market, this dual need becomes more urgent.
The proportion of quantities traded on international markets compared to global quantities of rice
produced is low, between 7 and 8 percent. This will increase in the coming years according to projected
current domestic demand in major producing countries.
In this structurally characterized international context, the Malian government may consider focusing
on new production, processing and marketing strategies to better meet consumer’s preference for
rice over other cereal crops. The close link with food security and poverty reduction at national level
renders this cereal particularly important. Each year, the different sectors of Malian rice generate more
than 100 billion XOF of income, including 70 billion for rural people and 4 billion in revenues for the
state. In comparison, rice imports in 2003 only rendered 16 billion in revenues, which were mainly
urban, and 6 billion in tax revenue. The increase in revenue for the state is tied into an exchange value
in foreign currency with a cost that already exceeds 23 billion. This also irreparably increases the gap
between the urban and rural populations as the latter have been recognised as those most in need.
Moreover, this option goes against the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) objectives, which aim
to halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day. Figures 3
and 4 summarize the macroeconomic results of a comparative study between the two “import” versus
“cultivated land expansion” options to meet new demands by 2015.