ABSTRACT

In 1960, newly independent Mali inherited approximately 25,000 hectares of cultivable polders, most of which were in the productive upper and middle valley zones of the Niger River. Individual cultivation based on separate and independent estimates of the time and extent of flooding on several different small plots had to be replaced by cooperation among smallholders. In 1960, newly independent Mali inherited approximately 25,000 hectares of cultivable polders, most of which were in the productive upper and middle valley zones of the Niger River. The technical conditions of rice production on polders provided the Keita regime with the ideal "hothouse conditions" to develop agriculture along socialist lines. Smallholders were required to coordinate their production activities and to establish and adhere to a fixed flooding schedule. The Malian Agriculture Service sought to encourage peasant participation in rice production by setting down objective criteria for reallocating polder land equitably and making plots more widely available.