An Economic Assessment of Sorghum Improvement in Mali, Impact Assessment Report No. 2

Since the Sahelian droughts of the 1970s and 1980s, raising sorghum productivity through development \nof higher-yielding varieties has been a policy priority for the Government of Mali, in partnership with \nICRISAT. ICRISAT’s involvement in sorghum improvement in the Sahel dates to 1975. Sorghum is one of the \ntwo main dryland cereals (the other is pearl millet) produced in Mali, and is both a food staple and ready \nsource of cash for majority of the country’s predominantly rural population. This report consists of two \nanalytical components, (a) a census of sorghum variety and hybrid seed use in 58 villages in the Cercles of \nDioila, Kati, and Koutiala, where new sorghum materials have been tested in farmers’ fields; and \n(b) an assessment of the economic impact of major varieties of improved sorghum released since \nthe study by Yapi et al. (2000), including recently released sorghum hybrids, based on an economic \nsurplus model. The report also presents an ex post assessment of returns to research investment...