MALI: Agricultural support Program in Mali (PASAM)

Project description

The contract awarded to CA 17 International was to support the implementation of the Malian Agricultural Sector Support Program, with 5 permanent technical assistants, under the supervision of the Regional Directorate of Agriculture of Mopti, hand-in-hand with other decentralised technical services, such as the Regional Directorate of Animal Production and Industries, the Regional Directorate of Rural Engineering and the Agricultural Chamber of Mopti.

The Technical Assistance’s main role was to:

• Support and advice the contracting authorities;
• Preparation of reports, development of management tools;
• Quality assurance support to progress reports;
• Facilitating the development skills of staff from structures responsible for the components in the areas of planning, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation and supervision of activities;
• Support to the definition and implementation of two regional funds, one for producers and their professional organisations and the other for local and regional authorities;
• Support to the identification of main agricultural value-chains for each geographical region (e.g.: dairy industry in the Mopti region, shallot industry in the Bandiagara region);
• Support to strategy development and monitoring.

Project goals

The project’s immediate goal was to:

• Support the implementation of national agricultural development policies;
• Strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries at national level;
• Contribute to the strengthening of local and regional authorities in their coordinating and planning role in agricultural development within their respective constituencies;
• Strengthen the decentralised agricultural services and the Regional Chamber of Agriculture’s capacities;
• Promote agricultural development in the Mopti region through the reinforcement of more efficient professional networks and agriculture based on the sustainable use of resources;
• Improve the income of family-run farms;
• Promote the development of economic activities in the Mopti region;
• Train, equip and structure actors from agricultural sectors; – Strengthen professional organisations to secure producers’ incomes.

Services provided

The main activities were:

• Definition of analysis and studies to acquire a good knowledge of priority sectors;
• Support to local and regional authorities to implement their priority investment plans;
• Setting up a regional fund to support rural infrastructures (financing of tracks, markets, slaughterhouses, etc.);
• Establishment of a regional fund to support the agricultural sector (Financing of capacity building and investment projects);
• Support to the Regional Chamber of Agriculture’s facilitators to inform and educate farmers about the opportunities offered by the program;
• Setting up of procedures for accessing the grants fund (forms and information systems) and then managing the fund: assessment of applications, monitoring of evaluation reports, supervision of requests for payment issued by the financer;
• Diagnosis of Agricultural Professional Organisations and establishment of a farmers’ organizations’ and suppliers’ register;
• Facilitator-training within the Chambers of Agriculture in support to farmers’ organizations’ and producers;
• Capacity building of farmers’ advisory shelters (CRA, DRA, DRPIA, DRGR).