Office du Niger

Office du Niger
The Office du Niger is a semi-autonomous government agency in Mali that administers a large irrigation scheme in the Sgou Region of the country. Water from the Niger River is diverted into a system of canals at the Markala dam 35km downstream of Sgou. The water is used to irrigate nearly 100,000ha of the flat alluvial plains to the north and northeast of Markala that form part of the Delta mort. Although the French colonial administration constructed the system to produce cotton for the textile industry, the main agricultural product is now rice. Around 320,000 tons are grown each year representing 40 percent of the total Malian production. Large quantities of sugar cane are also grown in joint ventures between a Chinese company and the Malian state. The irrigation scheme uses 2.7km3 of water each year corresponding to around 10 percent of the total flow of the Niger River.

Sign announcing the Office du Niger near the Markala dam in Mali

Irrigation system
The irrigation scheme utilizes two ancient branches of the Niger River, the Fala de Molodo that runs northwards from the Niger for 135km to the Alatona region and the Fala de Boky-Wr that runs in an east-northeast direction towards the town of Macina. Before the construction of the Markala Dam these channels would fill with water during the annual flood.[1] The Markala Dam maintains the water in the Niger at a level 5.5m above the lowest point of the river bed. Water for the Office du Niger scheme is diverted into the main irrigation canal, the Canal Adducteur, on the left bank 4km upstream from the dam. The Canal Adducteur has a capacity of 287m3/s and runs for 9.8km to the junction called "Point A". Here the water is distributed into three canals, the Canal du Sahel that flows northwards to the Fala de Molodo, the Canal Costes-Ongoba that supplies water to the Siribala sugar cane farm and the Canal Macina that carries water to the Fala de Boky-Wr.[2]

Extent of irrigated areas

Keta et al. (2002) give the total irrigated area in January 2000 as 74,000ha and provide the following breakdown:[3][4] 55,600 ha of rice polders within the Office du Niger 1,600 ha of new rice polders at Macina and Bewani 5,800 ha of sugar cane 3,000 ha of rice polders managed by the Opration Riz Sgou 8,000 ha of land cultivated outside the Office du Niger embankments (hors-casiers)

The extent of the irrigated area has since increased. The N-Sukula joint venture setup in 2009 controls 20,000ha of land of which 10,646ha has been irrigated for the cultivation of sugar cane.[5] The Millennium Challenge Corporation funded development at Alatona which ended in 2012, included 5,200ha of rice polders and market gardens.[6]

Office du Niger

Sugar cane
Since the 1960s sugar cane has been cultivated in an area between Markala and Niono. The Dougabougou complex covering an area of 1654ha between the Fala de Molodo and the Costes-Ongoba Canal, was established in 1965 together with a sugar mill capable of processing 400 tonnes of cane a day. This was followed in 1974 by the establishment of the larger 3520ha Siribala complex at the northern end of the Costes-Ongoba canal. The associated mill had an initial daily capacity of 1000 tonnes. Both complexed were established with Chinese financial aid and managed by the Office du Niger.[7] The farms employed salaried workers to grow the cane and hired seasonal workers at harvest time.[8] In 1996 the two sugar producing complexes were taken over by SUKALA, a Sino-Malian publicprivate partnership in a debt-to-equity swap arrangement with 60 percent of the 5 billion franc CFA (7.6 million Euro) equity held by China Light Industrial Corporation for Foreign Economic and Technical Co-operation (CLETC) and 40 percent by the Malian government. In 2009 the company produced around 39,000 tonnes of sugar and 2.8 million tonnes of ethanol. The sugar production represents about a quarter of the annual Malian consumption.[7][5][9] A separate Sino-Malian joint venture, N-SUKALA, was agreed in June 2009 between CLETC and the Malian government. Of the 8.8 billion franc CFA equity (13.4 million Euro), 60 percent is held by CLETC with the remainder held by the Malian state.[10] The company is developing 20,000ha of land near to the Dougabougou complex that had not previously been irrigated. At the time of the agreement the land was occupied by a number of villages.[11] The construction of a new sugar cane processing plant and refinery with a capacity of 6,000 tonnes a day, expandable to 8,000 tonnes was begun at the end of July 2009.[12] The new sugar cane farm will be irrigated using several hundred rotary centre pivot sprinkler systems. The complex is expected to produce around 100,000 tonnes of sugar and 9.6 million tonnes of ethanol each year.[7][13]

Alatona expansion
In November 2006 the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a United States foreign aid agency, signed a 460 million US dollar agreement with the Malian Government to develop the Alatona zone of the Office du Niger and to upgrade Bamako Airport. The project was intended to run for a period of five years between September 2007 to September 2012 but was terminated in May 2012 after a military coup deposed the elected civilian government of Amadou Toumani Tour. Of the total investment, 235 million US dollars were assigned to the Alatona irrigation project.[6] The Alatona Irrigation Project included the upgrading and paving of the 81km of road between Niono with Goma Coura,[14] increasing the capacity of the main canal system linking the Alatona region with the Niger River and the establishment of the Alatona region itself with its small irrigation canals and social infrastructure. The initial plan was to irrigate an area of 14,000ha but this was later reduced to 5,200ha.[6]

Large-scale land leases

From around 2008, in an effort to attract foreign investment, the Malian government began offering 30 or 50 year leases on large areas of farmland that had not previously been irrigated.[15] The aim was to bring about a large expansion of the total irrigated area. At the time, other than the Dougabougou and Siribala sugar cane plantations, all the irrigated land was cultivated by small family farms. The average area was around 3.3ha.[16] The farmers did not have title to the land which was all owned by the state.[17][18] The policy of granting leases on large areas of farmland has attracted criticism on the grounds that the procedure lacked transparency and the land rights of local communities were being ignored.[19][20][21] Although the development of the leased land leads to a competition for water and requires resettlement of the resident population no environmental and social impact assessments have been published.[22] The most high profile case is the Malibya project. In 2008 the Malian government awarded a 50 year renewable lease for 100,000ha of un-irrigated farmland to the Libyan government. The land was to be managed by Malibya, a

Office du Niger subsidiary of Libya's sovereign wealth fund. Although the details were not made public, a leaked copy of the agreement was later posted on the internet. No rent was to be paid for the land, but an annual fee of 2,470 F CFA (3.77 euro) was to be paid for each hectare irrigated by a sprinkler system.[23][24] The land lies to the northeast of the town of Macina, and at the time was occupied by a number of villages.[25] As the first stage in the development, Malibya arranged for the constructed a 40km canal and a new paved road by the China Geo-Engineering Corporation (CGC), a subsidiary of Sinopec.[26] The canal begins at Kolongo Tomo and runs in a northeasterly direction parallel to the Fala de Boky-Wr. It passes to the north of village of Boky Wr and ends near the hamlet of Tangana.[27] Malibya announced that they were planning to initially irrigate an area of 25,000ha.[26][28] Although the canal has a capacity of 130m3/s, the maximum flow will be much less than this. According to the hydraulic report for the Alatona project, the capacity of the Canal du Macina that feeds water into the Fala de Boky-Wr is 75m3/s and this water is also used to irrigate the existing 20,712ha of the Macina irrigation zone.[2]

Water for irrigation and the Niger River

Flow of the Niger River at Markala

Average flow in m3/s of the Niger River at the Markala Dam

[29]

The Niger, and its tributaries, the Sankarani, the Niandan, the Milo and the Tinkisso, rise in Guinea Highlands and the Fouta Djallon nearly 750km to the southwest of Markala.[30][31] The climate of both Mali and Guinea is determined by the West African Monsoon with the maximum rainfall occurring in August, but while the annual rainfall in the Guinea Highlands approaches 2000mm, that at Markala is only 600mm.[32] The short but relatively intense rainy season produces a surge of water flowing down the river system which in turn leads to the flooding of the Inner Niger Delta. Since the construction of the Slingu hydroelectric dam on the Sankarani in 1982, some of the flood water has been retained and released later during the dry season.[33] At the Markala dam, in an average year, the discharge of the Niger River reaches a peak of around 2,800m3/s in the second half of September but drops to under 120m3/s in the dry season between February and April. The average discharge is around 800m3/s, but there are large year to year variations in the intensity of the monsoon and thus in the water flowing in the river.[29] In a dry year such as 1989, the average discharge was only 539m3/s, while in a wet year such as 1995 the discharge was 1229m3/s.[34] Between 2000 and 2005 the average flow of water used by the Office du Niger was 87m3/s but the flow varied throughout the year, reaching a peak of 135m3/s in October and dropping to a minimum of 48m3/s in December.[35] On average the Office du Niger used around 10 percent of the total water in the river and although during the wet season only a small proportion was diverted, at the end of the dry season when the river discharge was at a minimum, a large proportion was used for irrigation. To satisfy some of the downstream requirements, there is an international agreement to allow at least 40m3/s of water to flow past the Markala dam at all times.[36] In March this left on average only 60m3/s available for irrigation and in the driest year only 30m3/s.[29] The water released by the Slingu Dam to generate electrical power increased the flow of water in the dry season.

Office du Niger The maximum amount of water diverted from the river is set by the dimensions of the canal. Until the upgrade associated with the Alatona project in 2007-12 the greatest flow was around 147m3/s[34] but with the upgrade to the canal system flows of up to 287m3/s should be possible.[2][37] Taking into account the 40m3/s passing through the dam, the Niger would need a flow of at least 326m3/s to satisfy the demand. The river only has this amount of water between July and December in an average year and between August and November in a dry year.[29] There is a longstanding proposal to build a hydroelectric dam at Fomi in Guinea on the Niandan. The effect on the Niger at Markala would be similar to that of the Slingu Dam: the flow would be reduced during the wet season and increased during the dry season. This increased flow during the dry season would allow the Office du Niger to divert additional water from the river.[38][39]

Notes
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Wymenga, van der Kamp & Fofona 2005, p.192 Millennium Challenge Account-Mali 2008, p.1.2 Keta, Blires & Sidib 2002, p.67 The figures are also given in Wymenga, van der Kamp & Fofona 2005, p.191 Investment abroad (http:/ / www. cletc. com/ Page/ 395/ SourceId/ 1317/ InfoID/ 10464/ language/ zh-CN/ default. aspx), China Light Industrial Corporation for Foreign Economic and Technical Co-operation, , retrieved 15 Aug 2012

[6] Mali Compact: Quarterly Status Report March 2012 (http:/ / www. mcc. gov/ documents/ reports/ qsr-2012002103102-mali. pdf), Millennium Challenge Corporation, [7] (in French) Complexe Sucrier, projet de CLETC au Mali (http:/ / www. iprcc. org/ userfiles/ file/ Feng Sheyong-FR(1). pdf), International Poverty Reduction Center in China, 2010, , retrieved 5 Aug 2012 [8] Schreyger 2002, p.72 [9] Chouquer, G. (2012) (in French), Les attributions de terres pour le complexe sucrier du Mali (http:/ / www. formesdufoncier. org/ pdfs/ 4ComplexeSucrier. pdf), France International Expertise Foncire, , retrieved 5 Aug 2012. Includes a map showing the sugar farms and the surrounding villages. [10] (in French) N'Sukala China Light Industrial Corporation for Foreign Economic and Technical Cooperation (CLETC) Agreement (http:/ / www. oaklandinstitute. org/ nsukala-china-light-industrial-corporation-foreign-economic-and-technical-cooperation-cletc), 2009, . [11] Chouquer, G. (2012) (in French), Les attributions de terres N-Sukala au Mali (http:/ / www. formesdufoncier. org/ pdfs/ 5NSukala. pdf), France International Expertise Foncire, , retrieved 5 Aug 2012. Includes a map showing the location of the sugar cane farms and the local villages. [12] (in French) Lancement des travaux du projet sucrier NSukala (http:/ / www. meic. gov. ml/ documentation/ discour MIIC NSUKALAversion finale. pdf), Ministre du Commerce, des Mines et de l'Industrie, Mali, 31 Jul 2009, . [13] Camara, Oumar (27 Sep 2011) (in French), N Sukala Sa de NBewani: Une production annuelle de 100 000 tonnes de sucre attendue (http:/ / www. maliweb. net/ news/ office-du-niger/ 2011/ 09/ 27/ article,29247. html), Maliweb.net, , retrieved 17 August 2012. [14] The village of Goma Coura is in the commune of Dogofry at 145301N 55809W [15] Baxter & Mousseau 2011, p.20-23, Table 1 [16] Blires et al. Keta, p.146 [17] Baxter & Mousseau 2011, pp.12-16 [18] Lam, Allaye (17 June 2011), "Assemble national: le foncier dans tous ses tats" (http:/ / www. essor. ml/ actualite/ article/ assemblee-nationale-le-foncier) (in French), L'Essor (Bamako, Mali), , retrieved 5 September 2012 [19] Baxter & Mousseau 2011 [20] Bunting, Madeleine (28 December 2010), "Mali: whose land is it anyway?" (http:/ / www. guardian. co. uk/ world/ 2010/ dec/ 29/ mali-farmers), The Guardian (London), , retrieved 4 September 2012. [21] Brondeau 2011 [22] Baxter & Mousseau 2011, p.27 [23] Baxter & Mousseau 2011, p.26 [24] (in French) Convention dInvestissement dans le Domaine agricole entre La Rpublique du Mali et La Grande Jamahiriya arabe Libyenne populaire et socialiste (http:/ / farmlandgrab. org/ wp-content/ uploads/ 2010/ 07/ Convention. pdf), 2008, . [25] Brondeau 2011, p.139, Fig. 2 [26] Sylla, Cheickna Hamalah; Tamboura, Skou (10 November 2008), "Abdalilah Youssef, directeur gnral de Malibya LAUBE: Notre ambition pour le Mali" (http:/ / farmlandgrab. org/ 6176) (in French), L'Aube (Bamako, Mali), . [27] Tangana is at 14518N 52715W in the commune of Monimpbougou. [28] Office du Niger 2010, p.7 [29] Millennium Challenge Account-Mali 2009a, p.223, Table 6-24 [30] Zwarts et al. 2005, p.21 [31] Zwarts 20010, p.11

Office du Niger
[32] L'Hte, Yann; Mah, Gil (1995), West and Central Africa Mean Annual Rainfall (1951-1989) (http:/ / www. cartographie. ird. fr/ pluvio. html), ORSTOM, Dpartement Continentales, , retrieved 25 August 2012. [33] Zwarts 2010, p.15 [34] Zwarts 2010, p.17 [35] Millennium Challenge Account-Mali 2009a, p.224, Table 6-25 [36] Millennium Challenge Account-Mali 2009a, p.223 [37] Millennium Challenge Account-Mali 2009a, p.222, Fig 6-2 [38] Zwarts et al. 2005, pp.27-28 [39] Zwarts 2010, p.18

References
Baxter, Joan; Mousseau, Frederic (2011), Understanding Land Investment Deals in Africa: Mali (http://www. oaklandinstitute.org/sites/oaklandinstitute.org/files/OI_Mali_Land_Investment_report.pdf), Oakland Institute. Blires, Jean-Franois; Hilhorst, Tha; Kb, Demba; Keta, Manda Sadio; Keta, Souleymane; Oumar, Sanogo (2011), "Irrigation et pauvret : le cas de l'Office du Niger au Mali" (http://www.jle.com/e-docs/00/04/66/ 98/vers_alt/VersionPDF.pdf) (in French), Cahiers Agricultures 20 (1-2): 144-149, doi:10.1684/agr.2011.0473. Blime, mile (1921) (in French), Mission Blime (1919-1920) Les irrigations du Niger, tudes et projets, Paris: mile Larose, OCLC29505318. Available within the US from the HathiTrust (http://catalog.hathitrust.org/ Record/006588273). Brondeau, Florence (2011), "L'agrobusiness l'assaut des terres irrigues de l'Office du Niger (Mali)" (http:// www.jle.com/fr/revues/agro_biotech/agr/e-docs/00/04/66/97/article.phtml) (in French), Cahiers Agricultures 20 (12): 136142, doi:10.1684/agr.2011.0472. Echenberg, Myron; Filipovich, Jean (1986), "African military labour and the building of the Office du Niger installations, 1925-1950", Journal of African History 27 (3): 533551, doi:10.1017/S0021853700023318, JSTOR181416. Keta, N.; Blires, J-F.; Sidib, B. (2002), "Gestion du systme hydraulique de lOffice du Niger: volutions rcentes et perspectives" (http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/18/26/87/PDF/Keita.pdf), in Garin, P.; Le Gal, P.Y.; Ruf, T. (in French), La gestion des primtres irrigus collectifs l'aube du XXIme sicle, Cirad, pp.6581, ISBN978-2876144804. Millennium Challenge Account-Mali (2008), Alatona Irrigation Project Phase 2: Irrigation Technical Report IR5: Hydraulic Analysis of the Main Conveyance System (Niger River to Point C) (http://www.mcamali.org/ IMG/pdf/IR5_-_Main_System_Hydraulic_Report_-_Final_rev2_with_Annexes.pdf), Millennium Challenge Corporation. Millennium Challenge Account-Mali (2009a) (in French), Projet d'irrigation de Alatona: Rapport d'etude d'impact sur l'environnement, Volume I: Evaluation des impacts environnementaux et sociaux (http://www. mcamali.org/IMG/pdf/Alatona_Irrigation_EIA_FINAL_2_French2.pdf), Millennium Challenge Corporation. Millennium Challenge Account-Mali (2009b) (in French), Projet d'irrigation de Alatona: Rapport d'etude d'impact sur l'environnement, Volume III: Plan d'Actions de Rinstallation (http://www.mcamali.org/IMG/ pdf/NEW_FRENCH_2_-_Alatona_Irrigation_RAP_FINAL_Mars_09.pdf), Millennium Challenge Corporation. Morabito, Vittorio (1977), "L'Office du Niger au Mali, d'hier aujourd'hui" (http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/ home/prescript/article/jafr_0399-0346_1977_num_47_1_1786) (in French), Journal des Africanistes 47 (1): 5382, doi:10.3406/jafr.1977.1786. Office du Niger (December 2010) (in French), valuation mi-parcours du contrat plan 2008-2012: aide mmoire de la revue a mi-parcours (http://www.office-du-niger.org.ml/internet/index. php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=35&Itemid=50), Secretariat dtat auprs du Premier Ministre charg du dveloppement intgr de la zone Office du Niger, Rpublique du Mali. Schreyger, Emil (2002), "De la 'mission Blime' l'Office du Niger", in Bonneval, P.; Kuper, M.; Tonneau, J-P. (in French), L'Office du Niger, grenier riz du Mali: Succs conomiques, transitions culturelles et politiques de dveloppement, Paris: Karthala, pp.6873, ISBN2-84586-255-5.

Office du Niger van Beusekom, Monica M. (1997), "Colonisation indigne: French rural development ideology at the Office du Niger, 1920-1940", International Journal of African Historical Studies 30 (2): 299323, doi:10.2307/221230, JSTOR221230. van Beusekom, Monica M. (2000), "Disjunctures in theory and practice: making sense of change in agricultural development at the Office du Niger, 1920-60", Journal of African History 41 (1): 7999, doi:10.1017/S0021853799007550, JSTOR183511. Wymenga, Eddy; van der Kamp, Jan; Fofona, Bouba (2005), "The irrigation zone of Office du Niger" (http:// www.altwym.nl/uploads/file/361_1289481552.pdf), in Zwarts, Leo; van Beukering, Pieter; Kone, Bakary et al., The Niger, a lifeline: Effective water management in the Upper Niger Basin, Veenwouden, the Netherlands: Altenburg & Wymenga, pp.189209, ISBN90-807150-6-9. Zwarts, Leo; van Beukering, Pieter; Kone, Bakary et al., eds. (2005), The Niger, a lifeline: Effective water management in the Upper Niger Basin (http://www.altwym.nl/uploads/file/361_1289481552.pdf), Veenwouden, the Netherlands: Altenburg & Wymenga, ISBN90-807150-6-9. Zwarts, L. (2010), Will the Inner Niger Delta shrivel up due to climate change and water use upstream? A&W report 1537 (http://www.altwym.nl/uploads/file/389_1294301369.pdf), Wetlands International.

Further reading
Bonneval, P.; Kuper, M.; Tonneau, J-P., eds. (2002) (in French), L'Office du Niger, grenier riz du Mali: Succs conomiques, transitions culturelles et politiques de dveloppement, Paris: Karthala, ISBN2-84586-255-5. Brondeau, Florence (2009), "Un 'grenier pour l'Afrique de l'Ouest'?" (http://geocarrefour.revues.org/7213) (in French), Gocarrefour 84 (1/2): 43.(Full text online from Jan 2013) Schreyger, Emil (1984) (in French), L'Office du Niger au Mali: 1932 1982: la problmatique d'une grande entreprise agricole dans la zone du Sahel, Paris: Wiesbaden, Steiner, OCLC461894000. Tricart, Jean; Blanck, Jean-Pierre (1989), "L'Office du Niger, mirage du dveloppement au Mali?" (http://www. persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/geo_0003-4010_1989_num_98_549_20928) (in French), Annales de Gographie 98 (549): 567587, doi:10.3406/geo.1989.20928.

External links
Official web site of the Office du Niger (http://www.office-du-niger.org.ml).

Article Sources and Contributors

Article Sources and Contributors

Office du Niger Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=526691260 Contributors: Aa77zz, Grmanners, Mogism

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