Yellow maize opportunities in Mali: how to better position youth?

When this partnership began in 2014, SONAF imported 80% of its yellow maize from Côte d'Ivoire – very little was available locally, because farmers mostly grew white maize and market sales were limited. Over the last three years, 2SCALE has mobilized, trained and linked to SONAF over 22,000 small-scale farmers, of whom 30% are women. We also helped develop a credit scheme underpinned by SONAF purchase contracts. Farmers have received more than 200 million FCFA in input loans from the National Agricultural Development Bank (BNDA) and micro-finance institutions such Soro Yiriwaso and Première Micro Finance Agence.

The combination of this training, inputs and credit yields by up to 3.5 tons per hectare. In 2017, SONAF purchased more than 27,000 tons of yellow maize locally, and imported barely 800 tons from Côte d'Ivoire. The company’s turnover has increased in three years from a few tens of millions to a billion francs.

In summary, 2SCALE interventions have clearly impacted on small-scale farmers in general and women in particular. But what about youth? What types of activities are most likely to generate sustainable incomes for young men and women? What are the specific constraints for young boys and especially for young girls? What potential job opportunities (permanent, seasonal, agricultural services, family labor) could attract more youth to the yellow maize value chain?

These were the key questions at a five-day diagnostic and participatory planning workshop held in Sikasso in August. The workshop brought SONAF, farmer organizations supplying SONAF, input suppliers and financial institutions. Additional input came from focus groups from Mpegnasso village, where young people and five women's groups participated in diagnosis and action plan design.

The workshop identified two key constraints. Young girls and young boys perform similar tasks, but the girls receive a smaller share of the income from the family farm. Girls are also asked to do potentially risky work like pesticide spraying without training or protective equipment. The potential of youth, particular that of girls, is also limited because they lack the resources or the social status to access farm equipment.

“We need to recognize that girls are involved in our farming business to the same degree as boys, but at harvest, farm managers encourage more young men than young women. We buy motorcycles, radios and TV sets for boys, and they receive cash for their personal needs. But for girls, we usually buy them only a few loincloths,” said Daouda Bamba, head of the producers’ organization.

Workshop participants agreed that it was important to increase awareness of equity between girls and boys, using culturally acceptable interventions and advocacy; and to understand that ‘equality 'is not ‘equity'.

“We have understood for some time that the best way to keep young people on our family farms is to share income equitably. We are aware that the situation of girls needs to improve, but the change must be gradual,” said Bamba. This positive attitude is supported by SONAF’s commitment to youth empowerment. Adama Dissa, CEO of SONAF, said the company would support the implementation of two priority activities: promoting specialized spraying services by young men, and supporting young urban people to establish companies offering equipment and mechanization services.

For Jacqueline Terrillon, gender expert and coach of the 2SCALE team, there is no single solution suited to all situations. It is important to understand each context, and not to just consider youth as "victims" of an unfair system. In conservative communities, this approach might be too intrusive; instead, we could focus on creating job opportunities and considering young men and girl as business partners.

The workshop concluded with the development of an action plan with clear indicators to track not only gains in the value chain, but specifically progress towards youth empowerment.