Program of Support to Agricultural Services and Farmers’ Organizations

The aim of Program of Support to Agricultural Services and Farmers’ Organizations (PASAOP) was to assist the government of Mali in reducing poverty in the rural areas through increasing productivity of agricultural and nonagricultural activities, reinforcing institutional, organizational and technical activities of the services of the Ministry of Rural Development, improving the effectiveness of the agricultural producers’ organizations and experimenting agricultural extension service management transfer to beneficiaries and private service providers and farmers’ organization. 

PASAOP was structured in four components: support to the rationalization and modernization of rural development services; support to the national agricultural research system; support to the national system for agricultural extension; support to agricultural chambers and farmers’ organizations. A central and cross-cutting element in the implementation of all PASAOP components is capacity building -- institutional, technical, scientific, organizational, and managerial. Achievements include: the development and validation of a strategy with an action plan for rural training and for communication in rural areas; scientific and management capacity building for the National Agricultural Research Commission and research institutions; capacity building among human resources in research structures; capacity building among support and consulting agents and producers; strengthening the participation of agricultural chambers and Organisation Paysanne Agricoles in decision-making bodies of research and extension.