In Mali, the Office du Niger held its 47th session of the board of directors on December 31, 2020 in Niono, in the center of the country. The work focused on the examination and adoption of the minutes of the last ordinary session and the report on the 2020-2021 agricultural campaign.

In the opening speech, the Chief Executive Officer of the Office du Niger, Abdel Karim Konaté, emphasized the drop in production of 12,881 tons compared to the previous campaign, caused by major flooding of plots and towns.

"This situation, which is explained by the high level of relief, concerns 6,855 hectares, or 5.8% of the areas developed in season and a shortfall of 437,517,772 FCFA in terms of water fees", he said. - He underlines.

In rice cultivation, the total production obtained is 808,102 tons for a developed area of 133,401 hectares, with an average yield of 6.058 tons per hectare.

It should be noted that the quantities of fertilizers subsidized at the Office only covered 37.51% of the needs of the compartments in basic fertilizer and 40.73% in cover fertilizer.

In addition, the draft budget for the 2021 financial year of the Office du Niger is balanced in resources and uses at the sum of 37.223 billion FCFA against 34.093 billion in 2020, an increase of 11%.

The Office du Niger (ON) is a Malian parastatal that manages one of the largest and oldest irrigated areas in West Africa. Its area of intervention is the western part of the central delta of the Niger River.