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Living conditions are precarious in the northern regions of Mali, where social instability and rebellion are a threat to peace. In a difficult environment, the IFAD-funded Zone Lacustre Development Project improved the living conditions of poor people in the northern regions, including many nomadic households, and helped restore peace in the area.

Mali is a landlocked Sahelian country that is extremely vulnerable to climatic variation. Arid zones and desert cover more than 60 per cent of the country. The northern regions of Tombouctou, Gao and Kidal are the poorest.

Poverty and conflict have been exacerbated by the absence of basic infrastructure, as well as by drought and desertification. The lack of development in northern Mali is one of the main causes of social instability there. In the 1990s, poverty in the northern regions fuelled tension, which led to an armed rebellion.

IFAD started operations in the country in 1982. Since then it has supported the Government of Mali in its efforts to promote economic and infrastructure development, particularly in the northern regions. IFAD has financed 10 programmes and projects, including the Zone Lacustre Development Project (PDZL).

The second phase of the PDZL, which started 15 years after IFAD’s first initiative in Mali, covered the Tombouctou region. The project aimed to improve people’s precarious living conditions, boost food security and increase small farmers’ incomes. Investments in the Tombouctou region have fostered an atmosphere of peace and have reduced the exodus of young people from villages to urban areas.

“The challenges were many in this drought-stricken and landlocked area,” says Hamzata Diallo, the former project coordinator. “It was very difficult to obtain data on food availability and on health care services, and to build up the social capital.”

Water changes everything
One of the PDZL’s major activities during its second phase was to develop hydro-agricultural resources through improved land and water management. The project’s performance exceeded expectations. Thanks to irrigation facilities, such as 8,200 hectares of large pools and 1,400 hectares of small pools, it placed 480 hectares of land under management. That was well over the project’s original target of 300 hectares. The investments helped ensure higher levels of food security for poor households in the lake area, where chronic food shortages were common before the project started. Now farmers produce enough to feed their families and also have surpluses that they can sell on local markets.

“For 15 years, no one was able to exploit the land in this region because of the water shortage,” says local farmer Hamadoune Thimpsi. “Now we can farm and harvest sorghum and other products during the dry season thanks to hydro-agricultural management activities.”

Karim Sampana’s family, which counts about 60 members, testifies to the improvements in the household’s living conditions.

“In 1988, when the project was launched, I filed a request for three hectares of land to farm,” said Sampana. “The results that I obtained encouraged me to file a second request, for 20 hectares.”

“The project invested in a motor pump to irrigate the plots, and this has been a great help to us farmers in watering our plants,” he said. With the revenue produced from my 20 hectares, I was able to purchase all the goods that are in my house.”

The family now owns fishing canoes, ploughs and a sizable number of cattle and sheep. One of the project’s most significant benefits is the security of knowing that the family warehouse is well stocked with sacks of rice even at times when supplies are at their lowest and granaries are normally empty.

Almost 65 per cent of rice production in the area around Niafunke is the result of the development of pools, lakes and irrigated land near the villages. The project also established basic infrastructure in isolated areas. It built and equipped more than 40 drinking water points, nine community health centres and six schools. It rehabilitated the main road linking the three northern regions and built a pontoon bridge over the Niger River.

The evidence suggests that the project’s sustainability and people’s empowerment have become a reality. Members of the communities involved in the project have acquired skills that will enable them to continue exploiting the irrigated plots over the long term. For example, they recently renewed the motor pumps bought by the project for their use. Farmers in Mandiebougou village spent 9 million CFAF (US$19,972) for a new motor pump. They were willing to invest more than they would have spent for a pump made available by the project for less than 8 million CFAF (US$17,755). This shows that, with or without the project, people are committed to continuing their farming activities.

Working with nomadic communities
More than 10 years have passed since the first conflicts broke out in the northern regions, where lack of development is one of the main causes of social instability and rebellion. To respond to the development needs and expectations of the people in those regions, Mali’s government has made a commitment to restore peace by fostering infrastructure development.

Following IFAD’s long-term commitment to working in the northern regions at a time when no other donor dared invest there, the
Government of Mali designated IFAD as the lead donor in the area. IFAD is working with the government and its other partners in Mali – the Belgian Survival Fund and the West African Development Bank – to consolidate the results achieved under the PDZL. Two new IFAD-supported programmes, the Northern Regions Investment and Rural Development Programme and the Kidal Integrated Rural Development Programme, are ongoing in Gao, Tombouctou and the pastoral region of Kidal.

Both programmes have the objectives of reducing competition for access to natural resources and improving the living conditions of poor rural people. The programme in Kidal focuses on the population’s nomadic way of life. Although some nomadic herders have established semi-permanent settlements, many households in the area still conduct a nomadic life. Responding to this situation, the programme has introduced an innovative way of planning development infrastructure for nomadic communities. The project management team will establish a social infrastructure only if the nomadic communities have participated in the decision and have agreed on the plan. This means that activities are not pre-determined and that they are fully integrated into the nomadic way of life. Instead of building schools, the project is considering the benefits of hiring teachers to travel with the communities.

Working with these communities is a real challenge for IFAD, despite the knowledge that the organization has accrued during its past experience. But activities funded by IFAD have shown that it is possible to achieve success even in a difficult and nomadic environment.

Source: IFAD