Irrigation scheme brings rice and hope to Mali

For many people Mali may conjur images of dry desert-like conditions. Yet despite the country's location at the southern border of the Sahara desert an ambitious scheme to introduce irrigated rice near the fabled city of Timbuktu is beginning to pay agricultural, economic and other dividends.

Agriculture accounts for 80 percent of the active labour force in Mali and a fifth of gross domestic product. Yet less than 2 percent of Mali's vast surface area, which is more than twice the size of former colonial power France, is cultivated. A long drought has accelerated desertification, reducing grazing land and causing clashes betweenn herders and pastorilists.

Yet the introduction of irrigation on the River Niger has brought lush green rice paddies in the midst of the encroaching desert that are transforming the lives and prospects of farmers. Foreign donor funding for irrigation has made possible 1,600 hectares of rice paddies, making previously import-rice dependent Timbuktu not only self-sufficient in this key food crop, but also able to export small quantities to neighbouring regions.

Water is pumped from the river into channels where it is then shared by smallholders. Two crops are harvested a year. In an area where salt-trading has been the dominant economic activity for ages, the irrigation scheme has opened up new possibilities that would have been unthinkable a few years ago. Both the U.S. government and the E.U. have pledged more funds to expand the project and build on its early successes as a poverty alleviation measure. Further plans are to develop up to 15,000 hectares of irrigated cereal , fruits and vegetables along the river.

As promising as the project appears, only time will tell if this will develop into a sustainable agricultural development effort.