Cereals market liberalization in Mali

This paper analyzes the impact of the process of liberalization of cereal markets in Mali. Most consumers, including food-deficient farmers, and private grain traders have benefited from the liberalization. Efforts to tie the liberalization to a minimum support price for farmers failed because the state lacked the resources to guarantee the support price. Furthermore, the ability of different types of farmers and traders to respond to opportunities created by the liberalization has varied widely, depending on their access to productive resources, improved technologies, information, and credit. Economy-wide constraints, such as the insecurity of contracts and liquidity constraints resulting from the failure of the government to pay salaries on time, have further limited the impact of the liberalization.