Farmers’ Production and Marketing Response to Rice Price Increases and Fertilizer Subsidies in the Office Du Niger.

Many African governments responded to the dramatic increases in international and domestic grain prices of 2008 and 2009 through a mixture of trade policy changes and input/output market subsidies. In the case of Mali, the Government put in place a rice promotion program at the beginning of the 2008/09 production season. The program, called Initiative Riz (IR or Rice Initiative), made subsidized fertilizer available to rice producers nationwide with a particular focus on farmers in the Office du Niger, where roughly 50% of Mali’s rice is produced. The goal of the program was to increase domestic rice production by 50% over the 2007/08 level, thereby increasing marketable surpluses and putting downward pressure on cereal prices.