With the aim of improving the cereal trade in Mali and food security, the SAA-Mali team participated in the "Annual Cereal Exchange" in Segou on 14 & 15 February 2022. This market platform was set up in Mali in 1995 on the initiative of the non-governmental organisation "Afrique Verte". 

In March 2006 the national cereal exchange was organised in collaboration with the NGO Afrique Verte and Sasakawa Africa Association to improve market access for SAA-supported producer groups in order to improve their income and food and nutrition security.

The objective of the exchange was to facilitate access by SAA-supported producers to remunerative markets by putting them in touch with private operators (traders, processors, seed suppliers, etc.), etc in one hand, and technical and research services in the other hand.

It should be remembered that the cereal exchange is an activity that brings together, during the marketing year and in the same place, the actors and partners in the sector in order to facilitate cereal exchanges. This allows producers to find markets to sell their surpluses and farmers' organisations in deficit areas to easily obtain quality cereals at a consensual price. In addition, we can see that despite the poor season recorded by the National Directorate of Agriculture DNA, offers and requests for this exchange have exceeded those of last year, i.e. an increase of 57.36%.

The cereal exchange also enables producers to obtain information on the characteristics of the cereal season, to be trained in marketing techniques and to meet partners, such as credit institutions.