The Dialectics Of Public Policy In Mali - 914 Words

The dialectics of public policy and collective action within the history of the cotton’s developmental agenda in Mali. The history of cotton in Mali has a strong link with politics: the colonialists struggled to impose it, the postcolonial state made of it a symbol of development, the French government remains a stakeholder, and the neoliberal project targeted that sector for reform. The Malian state, despite the increasing export of gold, remains heavily vested in the cotton production as it is the first agricultural export. Moreover, â€Å"cotton is the main source of livelihood for a quarter of the Malian population† (Serra 2014). Hence, the development of the sector has affected a large part of the population, and many more sectors that†¦show more content†¦The strategy of the CMDT was to increase cotton’s production through incentives, in order to buy it from farmers at a fixed price, to process the yields in fibers for selling in international markets (Serra 2014). Hence, the pricing of the farmers’ yields of cotton depends on the decisions of the CMDT and is not directly dependent on the international market’s prices. The production of cotton is localized only in the Southern half and more precisely in the central and eastern parts of South Mali. Between the independence and the end of the twentieth century, the CMDT acted as â€Å"the state within the state† in the cotton zone by managing all agricultural policies, and even public health, education and general infrastructures as roads (Serra 2014). The policies of the CMDT reshaped the agricultural practices. The cultivable lands increased as occasional slash-and-burn method was replaced by a permanent growing fueled by inputs (Dufumier and Bainville 2006). The CMDT have supplied credits for peasants to allow them to increase their capital (mainly cattle, machinery remains rare) and inputs’ supplies. The CMDT also channeled the supply of chemical fertilizers produced by French and European companies. However, most of the increases in yielding are due to organic fertilizers produced by the peasants’ cattle as