The Grassroots Development of Agribusiness Clusters in Mali (DEBPEA) project, funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Mali, is an extension of the From Thousands to Millions (1000s+) project. It is designed to reinforce and expand on agricultural development efforts in four Malian regions – Koulikoro, Sikasso, Segou and Mopti. The project’s primary objective is to increase the number of agribusiness clusters in Mali by 30 percent, and to further build on the strategy of making agribusinesses sustainable – economically, organizationally and environmentally. The project is contributing to the improvement of the institutional environment for business development in rural areas by designing and testing innovative instruments in rural finance such as contract financing, the inventory credit system (warrantage) and harvest insurance. The project also focuses on building a network of agro-dealers at the agribusiness cluster level in order to increase agro-input access.
DEBPEA Progress (January-June 2011)
- DEBPEA supported 15 new agribusiness clusters, in addition to the 50 clusters supported in 2010. Commodities in these agribusiness clusters include maize, rice, sesame, pepper and fonio. The project granted over $500,000 to cluster members for implementation of agribusiness plans.
- Twenty-two trained agribusiness service providers participated in a workshop to share experiences in Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM).
- A study was initiated on improving access to finance to facilitate agribusiness cluster development.
- An inventory credit system was developed.
- An information workshop was held for cluster stakeholders on crop insurance; 40 participants attended, representing farmers, banks and microfinance institutions.
- DEBPEA facilitated the establishment of seven agro-input shops.
- Nearly 2,800 people were trained in ISFM, Competitive Agricultural Systems and Enterprises (CASE), marketing and business management.
DEBPEA Information
DEBPEA Reports
DEBPEA Report Vol 0 Juin 2011 (In French)
DEBPEA Report Vol. 2
DEBPEA Report Vol. 3