Mali, July 2024
The validation workshop of the NRDS 3 of Mali
On Thursday, July 25, 2024, the national workshop for the validation of the National Rice Development Strategy (NRDS 3) developed by the RICE TASK FORCE of the Ministry of Agriculture was held at the Onomo Hotel in Bamako financed by JICA.
This workshop, chaired by Mr. Ahmed Cheikh TRAORE (Technical Advisor to the Ministry of Agriculture) was attended by about forty people from ministries, Offices/Agencies, Regional Directorate of Agriculture and representatives of the umbrella organizations of producers (APCAM, IFRIZ-Mali, PNPR-M). Its objective was to gather contributions from the various stakeholders in order to finalize the strategy and make the rice sector a pillar of the national economy.
During the workshop, it was recalled the crucial role that rice plays in food security and especially its substantial contribution in the country’s economic growth. With its weight and especially the country’s cultivable rice potential, in particular the availability of 2,200,000 ha of potential irrigated area, the new version of the NRDS was developed according to the “RICE” approach promoted by the Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD) and aims to produce seven (07) million tons of paddy rice by 2030 at an estimated cost of 268 billion FCFA. Achieving this objective will require a sustainable increase in production, improvement of the quality of Malian rice and empowerment of the several actors of the rice value chain.
After presenting the content of the new NRDS, the participants, while welcoming the quality of the work, recommended that the NRDS-3 integrate the objectives of the offices and agencies working in the rice sector, strengthen the financial commitment of the Government and local actors and be better harmonized with the framework of the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy.
On the basis of these recommendations, the validation of the SNDR2 was carried out, subject to the integration of the recommendations. It was also requested that the revised document be submitted for adoption by the government.
Finally, it was requested that:
- The strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of the NRDS-3 be conducted by the National Directorate of Agriculture (NDA), between August and November 2024;
- Summary of the SNDR document as well as a presentation report of the NRDS-3 to be prepared by the Task Force between August and November 2024;
- A communication, built on a communication plan developed beforehand, is made by the NDA between August and November 2024;
- The NRDS-3 be submitted to request the opinion of the Commission for Institutional Development (CID), the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the General Secretariat of the Government during December 2024.
