Pests and Donors in Mali, 1985–90

Between 1985 and 1988 large-scale spray campaigns were carried out against migratory crop pests in the Sahel. The Malian government and its donors subsequently adopted this emergency response to a natural disaster as a long-term strategy for crop protection in Sahelian Mali. This is financially unsustainable, probably economically wasteful and stunts the development of other plant protection strategies. A similar process has occurred in Burkina Faso, Niger and Senegal. Donors should therefore exercise critical, collective control over the release of pesticide aid and should subject it to economic evaluation.