ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how education and training are linked to agricultural production in Operation Riz-Segou. It reviews Mali's rich history of "human resource development," and describes the training program in Operation Riz-Segou, with particular emphasis on literacy education, community development programs, and the relationship of the Operation to the Malian farmer training program. In order to circumvent the perception of basic education programs as "second class" opportunities, most African States have attached such programs directly to rural development projects. Colonial agricultural training programs were designed to achieve two objectives: to train technical assistants for the Soudan Agriculture Service, and to create a base of support for colonial agricultural policies. Keita himself regularly complained that the Ecoles simply received illiterate and unequipped peasants and sent illiterate and unequipped peasants back to the villages. The Traore regime has looked to agricultural education and training primarily in terms of professional manpower development rather than as a means to improve rural welfare.
