Mali - Rural Development Support Project in the Mopti Region

The Mopti Region Rural Development Support Project falls within the context of Government rural development policy. It aims to strengthen the country's food security and reduce poverty. The project is planned to enhance the productive capacity of the existing 179.5 ha small water-controlled irrigation schemes and 130 ha of controlled flooding rice plots, develop 770 ha of small irrigation schemes and 1100 ha of medium water-controlled irrigated schemes, reforest 225 ha of village land with a view to protecting the environment, reinforce 2.600 ha of stock-raising plots so as to limit conflicts between stockbreeders and farmers. In addition, it should provide the rural area with support through literacy activities, promote farmer organisations, provide an agricultural credit fund to grant loans locally through the decentralised financial institutions, create a project activity coordination unit and build Mopti Rice Authority's (ORM) operational and institutional capacity to enable it to play its role of development facilitator in the region. Its implementation should permit the consolidation of the key assets of previous projects by strengthening and rendering farmers’ cooperatives accountable, even as it gives the needed support to local credit. The main project components are: A) irrigation facilities; B) building local production capacity; and C) project management.