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MALI’S MISSION CIVILISATRICE 137practised since the foundation of these towns. In the case of Tessalit and Kidal,date palm groves and tobacco gardens had been erected and owned by Bidânwell before colonial conquest. 55 In colonial times, European and African administrativestaff alike grew potatoes and vegetables with moderate success fortheir own consumption. The vast majority of the Kel Adagh however, hadalways refused to alter their nomadic life in the slightest way to tend gardens.Date palm projects started by French Commandant de Cercle Clauzel in theearly 1950s had all failed miserably due to lack of local interest. 56 The agriculturalprojects started by the Malian army as an example to the local populationin the Adagh only worked under threat of arms. Many of those families whohad fallen victim to the repression of the 1963-1964 rebellion, either by losingtheir herds or by forced settlement in the villages in the ‘zone of retreat’, had noother choice than to try and grow vegetables. Only in this way could theformerly idle wandering nomads be transformed into Malians.But growing vegetables and eating them are two different matters. The administrationwas not only concerned with the horticultural endeavours of thesedentarised nomads, but also with their consumption of their own products.Vegetables did not form part of the traditional nomadic diet. In order to stimulatethe population to grow them anyway the administration decided to buythe crops from the gardeners at subsidised prices. 57 This policy seems to haveborn some fruit. In February 1967 the inhabitants of Kidal, organising their firstagricultural market, could bring sixty tons of potatoes to the market, producedby two hundred farmers. A feature proudly announced by Commandant deCercle Diarra as ‘the Adagh’s most revolutionary act’.During this month the consumption of vegetables has increased considerably, aswell as the consumption of potatoes, which shows an unprecedented engagement inagriculture of all social classes in the Cercle. 58The analogy of the parent trying to force his unruly child to eat vegetablesfor his own good is almost too banal to make, if it wasn’t for the fact that muchcolonial discourse is framed in precisely that language of paternalism, and thatthis paternalism is generally seen as the hallmark of European colonial domi-55565758The French military explorer of the Adagh Cortier states that before colonial times asmall number of farmers existed in the Adagh. They cultivated dates, tobacco andwheat, but their numbers had declined. Cortier, M. & R. Chudeau, 1925: 10. Accordingto ag Mohamed, agriculture was stamped out by the colonial administration,which was afraid the nomads would settle. Ag Mohamed, A. 1977: 16.Inspection des Affaires Administratives du Cercle de Kidal, 1937-1957. ANM –FRD-20/1957.Interview with former Lt. Samaké. Bamako, 03/11/1998.Cercle de Kidal, Revue mensuelle des évènements du mois de février 1967. ACK.