Deploying technology as a means of providing economic support to producers (Mali)

The practice seeks to organise and engage actors in one or several value chains (for example, a rice hulling value chain where sector actors are organised around rice hulling units).

The support aims to set up a functioning organisation to manage the equipment and promote the value chain in question. The goal of this approach is to increase the quantity and quality of produce using a multi-stakeholder strategy with the potential, through the value added, to bring in substantial revenues.
Hulling, the main rice processing activity in the area, can be performed both manually and mechanically. Producers use pestles and mortars for manual hulling. This activity, commonly carried out by women, is mainly used to hull the portion of harvested paddy designated for home consumption. To improve production and processing, the project supports the installation of rice hullers on farms in order to provide consumers with better quality rice, which also has a higher market value. With this support, mechanical hulling (often following drying) has become embedded in farming practice and has overtaken manual hulling. Producers’ incomes have risen accordingly, given the reductions in broken grain and their more marketable produce. The interim objectives sought, with the project’s support, are: a) in production: to increase the land area developed for rice production per site; to increase the agricultural yields of sites; to enable producers to master rice conservation techniques and methods. b) in processing: to facilitate access to rice hullers for producers in supported communes; to market new non-paddy products. c) in marketing: to increase consumer knowledge about the products; to improve the organisation of produce logistics by employing a
more effective sales mechanism.
To understand the difficulties encountered by producers, a diagnostic exercise is carried out. For example, where no rice huller is available, women are obliged to pound the paddy. The results are mediocre (difficult work and rice quality). Other difficulties include the long distances involved in accessing a huller and the possibility that, even though a huller is available, the quality of the end product may be lacking. A management committee is set up to ensure the income generating activities that contribute to the organisation’s financial self-sufficiency are well handled. Millers are trained to run and maintain the machine and are provided with simple management tools for compiling information on the quantity of rice hulled each day, the costs associated with operating the machine (purchase of diesel, oil), etc. Operation: A rice hulling machine (huller) is installed for use. The fee for using the huller is set at a general meeting of the organisation, with a preferential rate granted to members. In addition, priority is given to local rice growers who wish to hull their rice. It should be pointed out that the machine is operated using animal traction and that millers often tour local villages offering their services. At the end of each working day, the accounts are drawn up by the management committee treasurer who, on a weekly basis and in the company of the secretary general, deposits the funds in the organisation’s bank account, held in a microfinance institution.
Beneficiaries formulate their needs and pay their share relating to these needs. The commune facilitates business operations. Consultants and technical services structure the organisations, provide advisory support and train actors. The programme provides co-funding, advisory support and training.
A rice huller of this kind with a 10-year lifespan costs between 1,500,000 and 1,700,000 CFA francs when procured from the manufacturer in Niono in the Office du Niger area. To this, one must add the costs of a one-week training course for beneficiaries on running and maintaining the machine (to ensure better uptake). This training costs 200,000 CFA francs and is delivered by the supplier (two millers trained). The machine hulls 800 kilograms of rice per hour, with a hulling rate of 60% to 67% using half a litre of diesel per hour.