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Mali is said to have the largest under-developed area of productive shea parkland in the sub-region, much of the potential lying along the little-traveled roads of the western part of the country. Trade of shea butter as a commodity in Mali was recorded as early as 1354 by the Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta. As in Burkina Faso, technical development also has a long history in Mali, from IHRO to GTZ. Though product quality concerns have limited marketability of Mali sheanut and shea butter, new initiatives have begun to address the critical issues of product development and marketing. SNV (Netherlands), Enterprise Works (USA) and OMAFES (Mali) Since 2000, SNV has established a network of rural producer groups, under a model roughly similar to that of CECI in Burkina Faso, with technical support from Enterprise Works and the Malian NGO, OMAFES, through the Union Locale des Productrices de Karité de Dioïla (ULPK). SNV maintains close working relations with the Chambre Régionale d'Agriculture and the Chambres Locales d'Agriculture in their areas of operation. SNV currently supports the Programme Filières, which works with rural producer groups of the cereals and shea sectors. The project is based at Dioïla, serving over 1300 rural producers from 39 producer groups in 5 communes du cercle. The SNV program is linked to the Programme d'Appui aux Services Agricoles et Organisations Paysannes (PASAOP) of the Chambre d'Agriculture du Mali (CAM). Funding for the SNV program expires in December 2003. Since the project began in 2000, the commercialisation aspects of the project have been re-designed and undertaken by the US-based NGO Enterprise Works. A local NGO, OMAFES, has been contracted to address the 'institutional development' aspects and implement training in techniques of improved shea butter production. The current project should seek to maintain and build upon production and commercial links established by SNV, possibly by collaboration with OMAFES and/or Enterprise works.
CECI-Mali CECI has begun socio-economic studies at Sibi, a shea producing area southwest of Bamako, under a current Plan d'Action pour la valorization du Karité dans la Commune de Siby. It is anticipated that under the current project, CECI may be able to make substantial advances in their Mali program, toward replication of the production and commercialization model developed by CECI in Burkina Faso.
Action for Enterprise (USA) Action for Enterprise has recently completed the first year of implementation of a 3-year $965,000 project on improved product quality, funded to 74% by USAID. The project targets exporters on the theory that in their commercial arrangements with suppliers, the exporters have inadvertently 'embedded' business development services to the producers they buy from. On the face of it, this approach may seem incongruous in a market environment in which it has been assumed that exporters have little or no incentive to work with producers – much less voluntarily increase the prices they pay to producers according to quality or any other consideration. However, if AFE succeeds in this approach, the lessons learned would be very valuable to the development of market access for producers across West Africa.
Centre Agro-Entreprise (CAE) With funding from USAID, The CAE was established in 1998 by the Chemonics, the private US development firm. The current project comes to an end this year, beyond which there may be a further extension of program. The objectives of the project are to strengthen the capacities and improve the performance of agro-enterprises to increase the value added in the processing and commercialisation of agrarian products in the sectors of cereals, oilseeds, cattle and horticulture. Thus, shea is not a primary focus of the CAE, but it is recognised as an important product of great potential, which should receive more focus if the project continues beyond 2003. The CAE supports entrepreneurs to invest in 'agribusiness', building the capacity of individual actors of the private sector in product development and commercialisation. Project activities to date have included exploratory market studies of specific products, formulation of business plans, and training to increase entrepreneurial capacities of local producers, processors, traders and investors; these activities are funded by the CAE to 80% of total cost. The CAE also issues financial guarantees to local banks in support of credit to entrepreneurial start-ups. The CAE has built a network of over 40 affiliated partner institutions (consultancy firms, training institutes, local NGOs, production and trade associations) in Bamako alone; another 10 in Ségou, 10 in Sikasso and 5 in Mopti. If the CAE is continued beyond 2003, and if the anticipated focus on the shea sector becomes a reality, it will be important to engage the support of the CAE to producers, processors and traders of shea products.
Institut d'Économie Rurale (IER) The IER is a state institution devoted to applied research on rural economic and agrarian issues. The IER has no specific shea programme, but has extended experience in studies of other filières (cereals, cattle, potato, échalottes/spring onions). The IER has carried out largely descriptive studies of these filières, and promotional programs including training for agro-entrepreneurs to teach them tools for the monitoring of their activities. More then a unit promoting developments of filières themselves, socio-economists of the IER provide their services for the monitoring and evaluation of promotional campaigns of agencies, including the Centre Agro Entreprise (CAE). Monitoring of recent development programs promoting various filières has included the Programme de diversification des revenus en zone non-cotonières (a program of the Ministère de l'Agriculture) which has been supported with sector studies of the shea, sesame, hibiscus and groundnut in the Haute Valée du Niger area. The IER also undertakes to monitor and evaluate donor programs.
Office de la Haute Vallée du Niger (OHVN),
The OHVN is a public administration establishment (Etablissement Public à Caractère Administratif / EPA) under the Ministère du Développement Rural. It was initiated as a state agency in support of cotton producers of South-West Mali. OHVN's mission is to increase production and productivity in the agricultural sector; its original mandate to promote cotton production has been expanded to alternative products. Today, the OHVN aims to address the needs of farmers in the core cotton growing region through improved marketing practices, access to credit facilities and programs which reinforce consistent quality of (agricultural) products. The OHVN is a large agency, with a total of almost 400 staff, out of which 150 work at the central level and 250 in the rural project area. The OHVN does not have a country-wide mandate - it is limited to the Cercles Administratifs of Koulikoro, Kati and Kangabe, covering about 770 villages, with a population of about 500,000. OHVN activities include training of farmers, facilitating their access to credit, networking and exchange between farmers within the regions regarding farming practices, market studies to orientate farmers, promotion of sustainable agricultural practices, and rural road construction to improve farmers' access to the markets. The specific strategy to promote marketing of agricultural products comprises providing farmers with market information on crops that they wish to cultivate, improving quality of these products, serving as intermediary between producers and (foreign) buyers, extending technical support to met specific requirements of buyers and administrative support for the actual transactions between producers and buyers.
Industry There is a limited, but developing, shea sector in Mali, including traders, exporters and producers of cosmetic products – some of very good quality. Producer Groups and Marketing Associations The following women's groups and marketing associations are major producers of sheanut and shea butter, marketing their products both nationally and internationally.
Other Institutions
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