PROJECTS

  • Facilitating Farmers' Access to Markets, Mali

    Food for Progress in Mali

    Project areas: Rural development, Environment

    Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A., with funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food for Progress program, supports the Mopti Coordinated Area Development Program, which aims to improve the quality of life of people living in the Mopti region of Mali. This area is in a remote area near the Sahara desert with poor soil for farming. Yet most of the people in Mopti are farmers, and the Mopti program focuses to support them and increase their incomes and food security. 

    Two out of every three people in Mali live below the poverty line. With a GDP per capita income of just $700, most Malians struggle daily to feed themselves and their family.

    Through better natural resource management, access to microfinance and improved marketing skills, farmers can increase crop production and earn more from their surplus. In the past, agricultural aid focused heavily on increasing food production while neglecting business training, but our Foundation is continuing its innovative program that business management skills and agricultural techniques so farmers can become self-reliant. Our Foundation facilitates connections with microlenders that have developed loan products directly tailored to the needs of farmers.

    The Program supports women farmers too, who generally grow vegetables to increase their productivity and choose the type of vegetables to plant and eat. The decisions that women make can significantly improve their children’s nutrition, which means they are healthier and can learn more in school. The program also supports civil society in the communities it works in so the communities themselves can better manage their natural resources and become agents of positive change and development.

    This program has directly benefited 40,000 Malians since 2007. Over 200,000 people will indirectly benefit through diversified crops, increased food security and improved incomes from agriculture.

    The Mopti Coordinated Area Development Program (MCADP) is an initiative of the Aga Khan Foundation and the Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance (AKAM) and made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Department of Agriculture.