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...quences, arising out of the dynamics of adjustment and compromise among keysactors, the modalities of their ongoing learning process, and the mobilization of hithertosunutilized collective resources (=-=John, 1998-=-). Section 4 argues that the delays to the CMDTsprivatization were a response to the particular exigencies of the political and social reformscontext, and though very costly may paradoxically now lead...

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... stalled at a later phase, because the bureaucrats and civil servants in the statesadministration may be against it, and may find it more advantageous to boycott it or try tosmodify it along the way (=-=Thomas and Grindle, 1990-=-). Especially in African contexts wheresstate capacity is weak, and the executive power has limited control of the administration, thesSerra, Mali cotton sector reform 9 challenges of implementation a...

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...nizations are very vocal in Mali, traditionally representing the mostsvisible and organized stance against structural adjustment measures, and the policiessstemming from the neo-Washington consensus (=-=Bingen, 1998-=-).21 They also represent asrelevant political constituency in democratic Mali, which has demonstrated on severalsoccasions its power to challenge the state and its interests, as with the protests duri...

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...ations of the Malian cotton system were laid towards the end of thescolonial period, when the French, after failed attempts to scale-up indigenous cottonsproduction by means of violence and coercion (=-=Roberts, 1996-=-), established a new system,sbased on economic incentives for small-scale farmers. The integrated industry modelsinherited from that period is centered on a ginning company, which buys seed cotton fro...

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...ds of thousands farmers, processes it into cotton lint, and exports it to internationalsmarkets. The ginning firm also provides farmers with inputs on credit, extension, transportsand other services (=-=Fok, 1993-=-). A few years after Malian independence, thesmonopoly/monopsony position was transferred from the French cotton state company,sCompagnie Française pour le développement des fibres textiles or CFDT, t...

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... programs, and sources for sustaining (or expanding) patronagesrelationships. Therefore, politicians and company bureaucrats adopt all sorts of resistancesand delaying tactics to fight privatization (=-=Tangri, 1999-=-). An analysis of the privatization of thescopper state company in Zambia, for instance, argues that delaying tactics served particularsinterests in the government quite well and helped to secure prot...

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...and warning against prevailing policy recommendations (e.g. Goreux, 2003), attests to thespersistence of first-best policy paradigms which dismiss the role of local context and informalsinstitutions (=-=Booth, 2009-=-). Furthermore, domestic actors, divided by multiple interests andsgoals (with the Ministry of Economy pressing to speed up the policy process so to receive asnew tranche of loans), never succeeded in...

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...res (Rodrik, 2008). This was so both under the twosStructural Adjustment Credits by the World Bank, SACIII and SACIV (World Bank, 2004,s2006), and under the IMF Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (=-=IMF, 2002-=-). That this is thescase, despite research presented to the World Bank underlining the role of these realitiessand warning against prevailing policy recommendations (e.g. Goreux, 2003), attests to the...

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...espite the partial farmer adhesion to the boycott, followingsdisagreements between a newly formed Crisis Committee and the main farmer unions(Syndicat des Producteurs de Coton et de Vivriers, SYCOV) (=-=Roy, 2010-=-), cotton productionsabruptly halved (from about 460,000 tonnes in 1999/2000 to 243,000 tonnes the followingsseason). This marked a political victory for farmers, demonstrated cotton growers’ strategi...

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...the Malian state has sosfar been unable to implement any kind of targeted anti-poverty programs, due to lack ofsSerra, Mali cotton sector reform 14 administrative capacity and of financial resources (=-=UNICEF, 2009-=-).14 In the absence ofstargeted interventions, the only policies have been fees removal (for primary schools andsbasic health services) and subsidizing prices of food and other necessities, which of c...

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...s Afriques, 9 Oct. 2010).26 The Frenchscooperation agency, which has also gone through phases of anxiety and frustration in itsspast dealings over cotton with the Malian government (as illustrated by =-=Cavana, 2008-=-),s24sInternational cotton prices doubled in just one year. The season average Cotlook A index went from USs$0.78/pounds in 2009/10 to $1.62 a year later, and is forecasted to be around $1.38 in 2011/...

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...oductive and conservation activities), the CMDT has performed its rural developmentsSerra, Mali cotton sector reform 16 functions probably more effectively than the weak Malian state would have done (=-=Fok, 1997-=-).sThe indirect evidence advanced to support such a view is the higher levels of cerealsproduction, lower levels of income poverty, greater density of infrastructures and higherslevels of literacy in ...

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...n, sure entity.s26sThe IMF approved new funding for Mali in 2010 following satisfactory review of the governmentsstabilization and fiscal programs and barely mentioning the privatization of the CMDT (=-=IMF, 2010-=-).sSerra, Mali cotton sector reform 23 seems to have now adopted a more hands-off approach, especially following the privatizationsin 2009 of the former French state cotton company, now GEOCOTON.27sBe...

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... visits to cotton areas before planting, trying to persuade farmers of theirscommitment to support the cotton sector. All this has renewed the hope that the Malianscotton sector can be revived again (=-=Mben, 2011-=-).sOther improvements are evident at the more general institutional and policy level. Producersassociations have become stronger actors, and a law to create a Cotton Regulatory Authorityswas adopted i...

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...iticized, not only for unduly penalizing farmers, who aresalready poor, but also for jeopardizing, through disincentives to production, the very goal ofseconomic growth that donors wanted to promote (=-=Nubukpo and Keita, 2005-=-). Since thes2008/09 cotton season, prices, though partly informed by international prices, have beensdetermined in negotiations between the main stakeholders.sIn conclusion, while the government impl...

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...rst-best), these reforms may be hard tospursue in the short term. The surest way to enhance food security in Mali has thus been tospromote cotton production by the largest possible number of farmers (=-=OECD, 2006-=-). Evensthough for many, less productive, farmers the marginal benefit from cotton production maysbe lower than the marginal cost, the overall benefits may actually be larger if one includessthe effec...