Chapter 5. Impact of Mali’s food and agricultural policies 155
including rice and wheat, account for 80 to 95 percent of the value of total agricultural imports. Cotton
accounts for 92 to 97 percent of the total agricultural exports, but its value has declined steadily since
- The cotton sub-sector has long been characterized by the fact that the value added has been
largely distributed among the various actors of the value chain resulting in interesting spill over effects
in terms of income generation. However, it has been facing a prolonged crisis.
Other sub-sectors show significant potential, including livestock, which could be better structured
to become a huge economic driver in the country. In the vegetable and fruit sub-sectors, crops such
as onions/shallots and mango also offer opportunities for diversification of production. In addition,
good water availability, thanks to the Niger and Senegal rivers, offers the prospect of more intensive
agricultural production. Encouraging progress is already registered for rice and maize, which have
shown yield increases in recent years. These are positive advances towards diversification of agricultural
income which has been heavily based on the cotton sector up to now.
Figure 1. Annual growth in agricultural and total GDP in Mali, in %, 1985-2010
Source: World Bank, 2012
Most agricultural value chains, however, encounter significant obstacles to investment, production,
processing and marketing. The state has an important role to play, especially in relation to access to
inputs that are seldom used – e.g. 3.04 kg fertilizer/ha cultivated (World Bank, 2012) – and often
difficult to obtain. The government has been investing heavily in this area through input subsidies,
which have increased steadily since 2008, reaching 36 billion FCFA in 2012 (MAFAP, 2012).
-15-10-50510152025301985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010Agricultural GDP growth GDP growth2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Agricultural GDP 58 60 59 64 64 66
Livestock GDP 26 25 26 23 23 22
Forestry GDP 14 13 13 11 11 11
Fishery GDP 2 2 2 2 2 2
Primary sector GDP 100 100 100 100 100 100
Source: INSTAT, 2011Table 1. GDP of the primary subsectors in Mali, in % of total primary sector GDP, 2005-2010