ABSTRACT
This study describes how agricultural land in peri-urban areas of the Malian cotton zone is converted, at a remarkable pace, from inalienable customary tenure to various forms of exclusive and alienable holdings. Around the rapidly expanding and densely settled urban centres, in a rough circle with a radial stretch of some 10 to 20 kilometres, agricultural fields have become vehicles in a race. The prize pursued in this race is not so much the land itself as its value; the winner is not necessarily the one who, at the end, holds legal possession but, instead, the individual who has managed to extract the maximum portion of the land's rent.
