Impact of the Malian Cereals Market Reform Program on Farmers

PROBLEM: Before the cereals market reforms of the 1980s, food policies in Mali were aimed at securing cheap cereal supplies to urban consumers (government employees, students, the military, etc.). To achieve this objective, the government fixed the prices of the major food crops both pan-seasonally and pan-territorially and required forced deliveries to the national grain board. The grain board in turn distributed the grain through urban consumer cooperatives. Maize, millet, and sorghum had the same official prices regardless of consumers’ preferences. Only rice was differentiated from the other cereals in its pricing.