Ambassador Milovanovic Signs Agreement for $19 million in additional Economic Growth Assistance for Mali.

On December 10, 2008, Ambassador Gillian Milovanovic participated in a signing ceremony for $19 million of FY09 USAID Development Assistance (DA) funds for economic growth activities to strengthen agricultural productivity designed to increase food security in Mali.  Present at the ceremony were the USAID Director, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Livestock, the Director of International Cooperation and chiefs of various technical departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
USAID Mali's current strategy focuses on economic development through increased agricultural productivity.  Through the use of the supplemental funding, current programming in Mali will expand into every region of Mali, increasing productivity in rice, millet, and sorghum and reaching over 10 million beneficiaries.  Expanding existing programs in the seed sector will enable the government to develop institutional capacity in foundation seed development and to foster private sector solutions to input supply. 

Activities and investments will help address the impact of high global food prices by increasing agricultural productivity in Mali and reducing barriers to the movement of food within the country and cross border region.  Activities will work within a framework that includes three inter-related components: increasing agriculture productivity, increasing regional trade in food staples, and promoting sound market-based principles for agricultural growth. Activities to address the impact of high global food prices will focus on: trade and transport corridors; value chain development; finance; technology deployment; irrigation and natural resource management; agricultural processing; and sound market principles.  An explicit focus of this effort will be the modernization of staple food production, enhancing trade and marketing in livestock and increasing the ability of the institutions responsible for food security to better analyze and respond to national needs.