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==Office du Niger==
==Office du Niger==
Niono is the central town of the [[Office du Niger]] irrigation scheme which was established during the last decades of French colonial rule and continued after independence by the [[Mali]]an state.<ref>{{citation | last= Morabito | first= Vittorio | year=1977 | title=L'Office du Niger au Mali, d'hier à aujourd'hui | journal=Journal des Africanistes | volume=47 | issue=1 | pages=53-82 | url=http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/jafr_0399-0346_1977_num_47_1_1786 | language=French }}.</ref> Water from the Niger River is diverted into a system of canals at the [[Markala]] dam 35&nbsp;km downstream of [[Ségou]]. The water flows north for 65&nbsp;km in the Canal du Sahel and is then used to irrigate the flat alluvial plains around Niolo that form part of the 'Delta Mort' (Dead Delta). Although the French colonial administration constructed the system to produce cotton for the textile industry, the main agricultural product is now rice. Each year around 2.7&nbsp;km<sup>3</sup> of water are diverted from the Niger corresponding to 8.3 percent of the total flow.{{sfn|Zwartz|van Beukering|Kone|Wymenga|2005|p=26}} The water is used to irrigate about 750 square kilometers of farmland which in 1999/2000 produced 20,000 tons of rice representing 40 percent of the total Malian production.{{sfn|Zwartz|van Beukering|Kone|Wymenga|2005|p=189}}
Niono is the central town of the [[Office du Niger]] irrigation scheme which was established during the last decades of French colonial rule and continued after independence by the [[Mali]]an state.<ref>{{citation | last= Morabito | first= Vittorio | year=1977 | title=L'Office du Niger au Mali, d'hier à aujourd'hui | journal=Journal des Africanistes | volume=47 | issue=1 | pages=53-82 | url=http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/jafr_0399-0346_1977_num_47_1_1786 | language=French }}.</ref> Water from the Niger River is diverted into a system of canals at the [[Markala]] dam 35&nbsp;km downstream of [[Ségou]]. The water flows north for 65&nbsp;km in the Canal du Sahel and is then used to irrigate the flat alluvial plains around Niono that form part of the 'Delta Mort' (Dead Delta). Although the French colonial administration constructed the system to produce cotton for the textile industry, the main agricultural product is now rice. Each year around 2.7&nbsp;km<sup>3</sup> of water are diverted from the Niger corresponding to 8.3 percent of the total flow.{{sfn|Zwartz|van Beukering|Kone|Wymenga|2005|p=26}} The water is used to irrigate about 750 square kilometers of farmland which in 1999/2000 produced 20,000 tons of rice representing 40 percent of the total Malian production.{{sfn|Zwartz|van Beukering|Kone|Wymenga|2005|p=189}}


==Architecture==
==Architecture==

Revision as of 10:14, 20 July 2012

Niono
Commune and town
A woman walks down a side street in Niono, during the dry season, January 2003.
A woman walks down a side street in Niono, during the dry season, January 2003.
Country Mali
RegionSegou
CercleNiono Cercle
Area
 • Total
520 km2 (200 sq mi)
Elevation
277 m (909 ft)
Population
 (2009 census)[2]
 • Total
91,554
 • Density180/km2 (460/sq mi)
 (commune)
Time zoneUTC+0 (GMT)

Niono is a town and commune located in the Ségou Region of Mali. It is the seat of the Niono Cercle. The commune has an area of approximately 520 square kilometers and includes the town and 20 of the surrounding villages.[3] In the 2009 census it had a population of 91,554.[2] The town is the capital of the Niono Cercle, one of six subdivisions (cercles) of the Ségou Region. It lies on the northwest edge of the Inner Niger Delta, near the main channel of the Niger River.

Office du Niger

Niono is the central town of the Office du Niger irrigation scheme which was established during the last decades of French colonial rule and continued after independence by the Malian state.[4] Water from the Niger River is diverted into a system of canals at the Markala dam 35 km downstream of Ségou. The water flows north for 65 km in the Canal du Sahel and is then used to irrigate the flat alluvial plains around Niono that form part of the 'Delta Mort' (Dead Delta). Although the French colonial administration constructed the system to produce cotton for the textile industry, the main agricultural product is now rice. Each year around 2.7 km3 of water are diverted from the Niger corresponding to 8.3 percent of the total flow.[5] The water is used to irrigate about 750 square kilometers of farmland which in 1999/2000 produced 20,000 tons of rice representing 40 percent of the total Malian production.[6]

Architecture

The Great Mosque of Niono is perhaps the most internationally recognized site in the town having received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1983.[7] A mosque on the site was constructed in 1945 and then subsequently enlarged. The present building dates from 1973. The mosques of Djenné and Mopti served as models.[8]

Development projects

At least two major humanitarian projects have attempted to ameliorate the lives of people in Niono and the outlying areas. Led by American and Malian Rotary Clubs and Engineers Without Borders (USA) Chapters, the groups surveyed in February 2008 a rainwater drainage channel. The drainage channel, known as a "collecteur de pluies" in French, runs 2 kilometers through the city center. During the rainy season, flooding causes havoc, and during the rest of the year, the drainage channel becomes a breeding ground for disease. The intent of the project is to minimize both the flooding and the unsanitary stagnant water in the drainage channel.[9]

A new paved road of is under construction between Niono and Timbuktu running to the north of the Inland Niger Delta. The 565 km road will pass through Nampala, Niafunké, Tonka, Diré and Goundam.[10] The completed 81 km section between Niono and the small village of Goma Coura[11] was financed by the Millennium Challenge Corporation. This new section will service the Alatona irrigation system development of the 'Office du Niger'.[12] The 484 km section between Goma Coura and Timbuktu is being financed by the European Development Fund.[10]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Common and Fundamental Operational Datasets Registry: Mali", United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs http://cod.humanitarianresponse.info/country-region/mali {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help). commune_mali.zip (Originally from the Direction Nationale des Collectivités Territoriales, République du Mali)
  2. ^ a b Resultats Provisoires RGPH 2009 (Région de Ségou) (PDF) (in French), République de Mali: Institut National de la Statistique.
  3. ^ Communes de la Région de Ségou (PDF) (in French), Ministère de l’administration territoriale et des collectivités locales, République du Mali.
  4. ^ Morabito, Vittorio (1977), "L'Office du Niger au Mali, d'hier à aujourd'hui", Journal des Africanistes (in French), 47 (1): 53–82.
  5. ^ Zwartz et al. 2005, p. 26.
  6. ^ Zwartz et al. 2005, p. 189.
  7. ^ Great Mosque of Nonio, ArchNet Digital Library
  8. ^ Cantacuzino, Sherban (1985), "Great Mosque of Niono", in Cantacuzino, Sherban (ed.), Architecture in Continuity, New York: Aperture, pp. 149–153, ISBN 978-0893811969.
  9. ^ http://ewb-chicago.org/projects/niono-mali
  10. ^ a b Coulibaly, Baye (24 November 2010), Route Tombouctou-Goma Coura: un nouveau chantier titanesque est ouvert, L'Essor, retrieved 19 March 2011
  11. ^ Niono-Goma Coura Road Inauguration, Embassy of the United States, Mali, 7-Feb-2009, retrieved 19 March 2011 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ Mali Compact (PDF), Millennium Challenge Corporation, 17 November 2006

References