The Office du Niger was established in 1932 by French public works engineer Émile Bélime as part of the colonial administration of French West Africa. Its goal was to develop 960,000 hectares of irrigable land on the left bank of the Niger River. Of this, 510,000 hectares were designated for cotton production, and 450,000 for rice. The project aimed to supply a significant portion of cotton for the French textile industry, fitting into the broader colonial strategy of dividing labor across different regions, where other areas focused on producing groundnuts, rubber, coffee, and cocoa. The plan also included settling 300,000 European colonists in the region, but this goal was not met due to a lack of volunteers. Instead, approximately 30,000 Africans were forcibly displaced from across French West Africa up to 1945, according to historian Filipovich. The project relied on a diversion dam at Markala, which was not completed until 1947, 15 years after the Office was created. The administrative structure required 7,000 employees, one for every four colonists, but this number was reduced to 5,000 by 1955. In 1945, the French Ministry of Colonies privately assessed the project as a failure, citing poor preparation of colonists for water management and the lack of promised equipment for mechanized farming. Farming methods remained semi-extensive, leading to low rice yields and limited success in meeting the project’s goals. Cotton production, the primary objective of the project, was halted by 1970 due to the availability of cheaper rain-fed cotton from the southern part of the country. Some studies suggest the abandonment of cotton production occurred in 1971. Rice, however, became more prominent, with yields peaking at 1.6 tonnes per hectare. By 1982, only 60,000 hectares had been developed, representing just 6% of the original target. A third of these areas had been abandoned due to lack of maintenance, leaving 20,000 hectares fallow. The Office du Niger still exists today, having been nationalized on May 19, 1961, by Mali’s first president, Modibo Keïta. It now serves as the heart of Mali’s national rice production, powered by the Markala dam and covering more than 130,000 hectares of developed land, according to Malian press. This figure remains far from the original 960,000 hectares envisioned in 1929, reflecting the long-term challenges and limitations of the project.