PROMISAM II: Project to Mobilize Food Security Initiatives in Mali

The project aimed to strengthen the capacities of the Malian government and higher education bodies in developing market-friendly food security and agricultural policies consistent with the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP). The project's general objective was to enhance the technical and analytical skills of the Malian government's agricultural sector and related support agencies. PROMISAM-II focused on several key components, including the strengthening of the Malian government's analytic capacity, monitoring and evaluation of local food security plans, and the establishment of a Department of Agricultural Economics and Food Policy Analysis at the University of Bamako's faculty of agriculture, IPR/Katibougou. The project also supported the organization of the Malian CAADP roundtable, which led to the signing of Mali's CAADP compact in October 2009. Additionally, the project contributed to the development of a national cereals marketing strategy document, the production of an outlook bulletin with the Office du Mali pour l'Agriculture (OMA), and the completion of an initial round of data collection on farmers' cereal marketing. The project's achievements in the first year included the establishment of the Department of Agricultural Economics in November 2009, the development of a national cereals marketing strategy document, and the production of an outlook bulletin. The project also strengthened the analytic capacities of the Malian government's agricultural sector and its affiliated agencies through joint development of the national cereals marketing strategy document and the completion of an initial round of data collection on farmers' cereal marketing. Furthermore, the project developed a strategy for developing and testing methods for community organizations to monitor implementation of local food security plans in collaboration with the Peace Corps and PGP2. PROMISAM-II's work in Mali is linked to other Michigan State University (MSU) initiatives in West Africa, including research on market information and grade and standards funded by the Hewlett Foundation, regional market integration funded by the Syngenta Foundation, and the dynamics of staple food markets in Africa funded by the Gates Foundation. The project also supported the organization of a Mali-Senegal border conference funded by SAGIC and provided support to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on the regional CAADP.