General introduction and book content LIII
low performance, due in part to the heterogeneity of their members, which limits collective actions such
as negotiating marketing credit or developing long-term relationships or agreements with buyers/traders.
Another key obstacle facing domestic rice producers is the urban consumers’ perception that domestic
rice is of low quality. Moreover, industrial rice millers lack sufficient working capital to purchase paddy
rice and have very limited access to commercialization credit. Overall, lack of coordination between the
different actors, combined with the dominant proportion of small transaction volumes, significantly
reduces marketing margins for local rice and also reduces incentives for investments to improve the supply
of local rice to urban consumers. The food crisis of 2007-2008 did push rice importers to turn to local rice,
but the above-cited obstacles need to be resolved to unlock the potential of the domestic rice market.
Chapter 13, by N’krumah, Elbehri and Legret, examines the state of the rice value chain in Mali, in
a post-food crisis context. In Mali, rice is the third most important commodity in value terms, after
livestock and cotton. Rice production potential in Mali is large compared with neighbouring countries
because of the availability of untapped irrigable land. Moreover, consumer preferences for rice in Mali
are hugely in favour of local varieties. The rice sector is generally competitive but there are still huge
gaps in rice productivity and more improvements are needed to remove various marketing constraints.
Among the critical measures needed to improve domestic supply are the expansion of irrigation schemes
(through public-private investment partnerships), better fertilizer distribution, and expanded adoption of
the improved variety, NERICA (“New Rice for Africa”). Institutional reforms are critically needed; these
include promoting professional producer organizations capable of facilitating access to credit (in part
through the practice of warrantage), managing local irrigation schemes and providing extension services
(using trained relay farmers). To improve marketing, it will be necessary to improve the quality of paddy
rice and strengthen the agricultural information dissemination systems. On the policy side, to date the
state has been involved primarily through input subsidization and investments to expand irrigated areas.
However, strengthening producer organizations, enhancing coordination among the value chain actors
and harmonizing import policies with domestic rice support initiatives are among the key missing links
awaiting a coherent and inclusive value chain development strategy for rice in Mali.
Chapter 14, by Kaminski, Elbehri and Zoma, examines the maize value chain in Burkina Faso. In West
Africa, maize is hugely important for agricultural transformation, intraregional trade integration and food
security. Maize can serve multiple market outlets (food, feed and industrial applications) with significant
opportunities for expansion and agroprocessing development. In the case of Burkina Faso, the authors
examine the key obstacles facing maize value chain development and review the incentives required to
transform maize from a predominantly self-consumed crop into a cash commodity serving the needs of
several growing market outlets (processed food, animal feed, breweries). Driven by strong and multiple
demand sources, incentives do exist for greater uptake of productivity techniques (fertilizers, seeds)
and improved maize supply quality (including post-harvest). However, the maize sector continues to be
hampered by multiple market and institutional failures. On the marketing side, maize value chain actors
confront large seasonal price variability and variation in supply and quality. Institutional obstacles include
the lack of an effective legal system and weak commercial and market transactions, all of which limit
the growth potential for the agroprocessing sector. Institutional-type reforms include support to credit
schemes and incentives such as subsidizing collective storage for use in inventory credit (warrantage).
As was pointed out for other commodities, successful institutional reforms hinge on the emergence of
credible and business-oriented producer organizations able to mediate between producers and credit
institutions to facilitate adoption of new technologies and to perform collective purchases and sales.
Maize trade within West Africa is much lower than its potential. However, improving maize intraregional
trade requires a better understanding of the economic and business costs of current barriers to trade, as
well as better communication with policy-makers about the magnitude of the resulting costs to national
food security. Policy-makers also need to be convinced that removing these barriers can generate benefits