Market Prospects for Groundnut in West Africa COMMON FUND ...

While the harvest extends from October through December, marketing
takes place in most areas from December through May, to the beginning of
June. From April through August, prices steadily rise as the product becomes
scarce. Prices fall to their lowest point from September through November in
anticipation of the new harvest, due to the high moisture content and
perishability of the new harvest as it dries, and probably in response to
declining product quality of whatever remains of the previous harvest.
In Mali, there is a price differential between groundnut shelled manually
and that shelled by a machine. Groundnut shelled by hand obtained a
premium of between fCFA 10 and 25 per kg as compared to the machinedecorticated
product, which is more prone to damage ie, cracking of the
kernels.
Market profiles
Kita
One of the first production areas, Kita is considered ‘the Groundnut Basin of
Mali,’ contributing 21% of the total groundnut production of the country.
Popular varieties in Kita are the early variety 47-10 in the northern areas
of Didjian, Sébécoro and Toukoto, and the late-yielding 28-206, which
requires more water (800-1000 mm) in the southern areas of Kokofata,
Sagabari and Sirakoro. In general, the only crop inputs purchased are
fungicides, as fertilizers and insecticides are commonly seen as too expensive
by producers.
As noted above, marketing of groundnut takes place throughout the year,
with about 60% of the crop sold between January and May. Stocking of
groundnut on farm is limited one or two months. Recent production trends in
Kita indicate a greater willingness on the part of the producers to invest in
transport from production areas in order to obtain better market prices
in Kita.
The costs of transport and handling have been calculated by IER at fCFA
12.4 per kg of shelled groundnut. Farmers do not usually invest their time in
shelling, which is done mainly by the collectors. Collectors, in turn, sell to
primary wholesalers in order to reduce transport costs, which are calculated
by the bag rather than by weight (Kondié 2003).
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