One of the strongest advocates of MSU’s study abroad programs returned Monday from his own overseas adventure.
MSU President M. Peter McPherson spent five days assessing agricultural and economic progress in Mali.
Agriculture experts from MSU have been working for more than 20 years to combat hunger in the land-locked west African nation.
“There has been some real progress,” McPherson said. “Rice production is up pretty dramatically.”
He left for Africa on Jan. 2, where he met with Mali President Alpha Oumar Konare, toured the University of Mali and evaluated fishing operations on the democratic nation’s primary waterway, the River Niger.
McPherson has developed a close relationship with Konare, who received an honorary doctorate of humanities from MSU in 1998.
Jim Bingen, an MSU resource development professor, was co-editor of the recent book, “Democracy and Development in Mali.” Bingen worked on the book with John Staatz, an agricultural economics professor, and David Robinson, a history professor.
The book is a collection that came out of a symposium about democracy and development held when Konare was on MSU’s campus a few years ago.
Bingen said he thinks the relationship between McPherson and Mali’s president is beneficial to the university and the African nation.
“Mali is classified as one of the world’s poorest countries, but it stands as a model for democracy in Africa,” he said. “I think we as a university and a land-grant (institution) have a tremendous amount we can attribute to Mali with education and development.”
Staatz, who has been to Mali about 50 times during the past 16 years, accompanied McPherson on his recent journey.
“Mali may be materially poor, but it’s very rich culturally,” he said. “The people are about the friendliest I have ever met in my life with a very big tradition of welcoming.”
Staatz said Mali has made a great deal of progress since the mid-1980s and MSU has been with the country every step of the way.
In fact, Staatz said the national director of the country’s central bank and the head of the Agriculture Market Information System both hold degrees from the university.
“I think (Mali’s) ties with MSU help strengthen that country’s scientific capacity and generate new technology to produce food and strengthen policy to affect economic growth,” he said.
And the nation’s tradition of welcoming was not broken during McPherson’s trip.
“They really rolled out the red carpet for him,” Staatz said. “At the university, all the professors and all the students were waiting to meet him.”
