page_title: Economy of Mali
section_title: Agriculture
hierarchical_section_title: Economy of Mali / Agriculture
caption_attribution_description: Major Agricultural Region in Southern Mali, showing Isohyet lines and crop intesity percentages. "Mali’s most productive agricultural region located between Bamako and Mopti. Irrigation is practiced in this region, but irrigation water is used mainly for rice while cotton is grown as a rainfed crop. Average rainfall varies in this region from 500-mm per year around Mopti to 1400-mm in the south near Bougouni. Cotton production systems typically revolve around small family farms with limited equipment and no mechanization. ... In general, cotton in the Franc Zone is grown within the Sudanian and Sudanian-Guinean Zone, characterized with an annual rainfall ranging from 600-1200 mm and growing seasons greater than 120 days. Cotton within the Franc Zone is planted from May-July and harvested from October-December. Other cropping systems within the Franc Zone cotton belt includes maize, sorghum, millet, vegetables, cowpeas, and rice. "
context_page_description: The economy of Mali is based to a large extent upon agriculture, with a mostly rural population engaged in subsistence agriculture.
  Mali is among the ten poorest nations of the world, is one of the 37 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries, and is a major recipient of foreign aid from many sources, including multilateral organizations, and bilateral programs funded by the European Union, France, United States, Canada, Netherlands, and Germany. Before 1991, the former Soviet Union, China and the Warsaw Pact countries had been a major source of economic and military aid.
  The per capita gross domestic product of Mali was $820 in 1999. Mali's great potential wealth lies in mining and the production of agricultural commodities, livestock, and fish. The most productive agricultural area lies along the banks of the Niger River, the Inner Niger Delta and the southwestern region around Sikasso.
context_section_description: Agricultural activities occupy 70% of Mali's labor force and provide 42% of the GDP. Cotton and livestock make up 75%–80% of Mali's annual exports. Small-scale traditional farming dominates the agricultural sector, with subsistence farming (of cereals, primarily sorghum, pearl millet, and maize) on about 90% of the 14,000 square kilometres (1,400,000 ha; 3,500,000 acres) under cultivation.
  The most productive agricultural area lies along the banks of the Niger River between Bamako and Mopti and extends south to the borders of Guinea, Ivory Coast, and Burkina Faso.  Average rainfall varies in this region from 500 mm (20 in) per year around Mopti to 1,400 mm (55 in) in the south near Sikasso. This area is most important for the production of cotton, rice, pearl millet, maize, vegetables, tobacco and tree crops.
  Annual rainfall, critical for Mali's agriculture, has been at or above average since 1993. Cereal production, including rice, has grown annually, and the 1997–98 cotton harvest reached a record 500,000 tons.
  Until the mid-1960s, Mali was self-sufficient in grains — pearl millet, sorghum, rice and maize. Diminished harvests during bad years, a growing population, changing dietary habits, and, most importantly, policy constraints on agricultural production resulted in grain deficits almost every year from 1965 to 1986.
  Production has rebounded since 1987 due to agricultural policy reforms undertaken by the government and supported by the Western donor nations. Liberalization of producer prices and an open cereals market have created incentives to production. These reforms, combined with adequate rainfall, successful integrated rural agriculture programs in the south, and improved management of the Office du Niger, have led to surplus cereal production over the past five years.
caption: The major agricultural region in southern Mali, showing isohyet lines and crop intensity percentages. Mali's most productive agricultural region is located between Bamako and Mopti. Irrigation water is used mainly for rice while cotton is grown as a rainfed crop. (USDA: 2001)
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