The Mali Meat Export Development Program (PRODEVIM) held the second meeting of its steering committee on Monday, April 1 at the Cité administrative. It was under the co-chairmanship of the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations system in Mali and the Minister of Trade and Competition.

Today, we regret that the 15,000 employees of the United Nations system in Mali, including MINUSMA, consume imported meat in a country that holds the first herd in the WAEMU zone and the second in the ECOWAS area in terms of numbers.

A state of affairs that the United Nations system wants to reverse through the Mali Meat Export Development Program (PRODEVIM).

The objective of this Program is to ensure the development of Mali's meat exports. It should contribute to improving the incomes of producers, merchants and exporters with a view to increasing value added to Malian livestock.

For the Coordinator of the United Nations system in Mali, Ms. Mbaranga Gasarabwé, the programme is first of all designed to contribute to the professionalization of pastoralists and the implementation of the conditions for private sector investment in the processing of livestock into meat.

She stressed that the livestock sub-sector is a source of income for more than 30% of the Malian population. Exports of live animals brought Mali more than 139 billion CFA francs in 2018.

However, the coordinator of the United Nations system believes that action must be taken in the face of this destocking, which does little to benefit the Malian economy. It is therefore necessary to bring added value to Mali's meat, bringing it to meet international phytosanitary standards.

To deal with it, it adds that it is necessary to overcome the major difficulties faced by the subsector, in particular the lack of pastoral areas and transhumance corridors, the lack of water points, health coverage of livestock, non-compliance with international standards in force in slaughterhouses and slaughter areas, weak public and private investment and inadequate packaging chain including logistics to standards.

As a result, meat from Mali is not consumed by staff of the United Nations system and many other expatriates residing in our country.

As for the Minister of Trade and Competition, Alhassane Ag Hamed Moussa, he welcomed the support of the actors to this project.

This should make it possible to identify the factors that hinder the development of the livestock sub-sector identified during the study carried out in October 2017.