Rapid Reconnaissance of Coarse Grain Production and Marketing in the CMDT zone of southern Mali: field work report of the IER-CSA-PROMISAM team December 13-19, 2009

This report presents principal findings of a rapid reconnaissance undertaken in December, 2009 as preparation for more detailed marketing studies to be undertaken in the context of PROMISAM II’s applied research program on promoting food security in Mali. The objective of the reconnaissance was to explore changes in cereal production and marketing patterns as an input to the design of a forthcoming study of changes in the structure, conduct and performance of the coarse grain sector in Mali. To facilitate discussions with farmers and traders an interview guide was prepared. The first section of this report synthesizes the principal findings, while the annex presents detailed field notes from the study together with the interview guide.