Foreign Investment And Agricultural Development In Mali

Agriculture is the driving force of the West African economy,and in Mali,it accounts for almost half of GDP.In addition,through its influence upstream and downstream,it also explains almost all GDP variations.This sector,in addition to being the largest employer of the country,is also the one that contains the majority of the population vulnerable to hunger and poverty.After more than fifty years of independence,Mali still faces food insecurity and poverty.Thus,in order to develop the agricultural sector to ensure food security and reduce rural poverty,the government has called on foreign investors to invest in the Office du Niger area.This study raises the question of whether the strategies adopted by Mali to mobilize the foreign capitals needed in order to change the situation against hunger and poverty are effective.Thus,it is a question of determining whether these strategies are more likely to attract the foreign investment needed for agricultural development in Mali,and also,to determine whether foreign agricultural investment in the Office du Niger area constitutes an accumulation by dispossession or an opportunity for food security and poverty reduction in rural areas.On the basis of liberal theories,Mali hopes that foreign agricultural investment will facilitate the achievement of the national agricultural development in order to ensure food security by intensifying agricultural production and modernizing the agricultural sector.More so,it is supposed to stimulate economic growth and create jobs to reduce rural poverty.We used the mixed method(qualitative and quantitative),to study the relationship between foreign agricultural investment and agricultural development advocated by the Malian government.Four foreign agricultural investments in the Office du Niger zone have been selected and meticulously studied.The four included investments by Sukala,N-Sukala(Chinese investments),WAEMU and MCA.The results show that the foreign agricultural investments in the Office du Niger are an opportunity for Mali to improve its food security and to reduce rural poverty.In the light of the analysis in this study,it appears that Mali has benefited from these foreign agricultural investments.But these investments are still insufficient to guarantee a stable food security of the country in the long term.Similarly,these investments have not yet reached the significant threshold for eradicating poverty.