Possibilities for alternative peasant trajectories through gendered food practices in the Office du Niger

Introduction This chapter explores the existence and nature of mainstream and alternative food networks (AFNs) in the Office du Niger, Mali in the context of women’s historical marginalization from land and farming. The Office du Niger is the name given to a designated rice-growing zone in Mali that was first developed by French colonialists in the 1920s, who envisaged the region as a massive cotton growing operation that would supply European markets (see Figure 5.1). Following Malian independence in 1960, the Office came under the control of the Malian government, who set up an autonomous body, known locally as ‘the Office’, in order to manage the region. After financial deregulation during the 1980s and 1990s, the role of government in the region was much reduced although the state retained ultimate control over the region and its lands. Today the Office administers approximately 96,000 hectares of irrigated rice land farmed primarily by smallholder farmers. Cultural denigration of non-rice production in the zone, set in place almost a century ago, continues to inflect thinking around the legitimacy of food practices. The colonial legacy has been the construction of irrigated rice as the mainstream, legitimate crop of the Office du Niger. Production on nonirrigated land, whether for subsistence or sale, is not recognized as lawful or purposeful.