Markala

Markala is a commune on the Niger River in Mali's Ségou Region, about 35 km downstream from the town of Ségou. It contains around 30 villages across roughly 318 km² and had a population of about 46,000 at the 2009 census.

The town is best known for the Markala Dam (Barrage de Markala), Mali's primary irrigation structure on the Niger. Built by the French colonial administration between 1934 and 1945 to irrigate land for cotton production, the dam is about 2,450 metres long and works as a weir — water flows over the top rather than being fully blocked. It diverts roughly 2.7 km³ of water a year, about 8.3% of the river's flow, into a canal system running some 135 km north through the towns of Niono and Sokolo. The scheme is managed by the Office du Niger and irrigates around 750 km² of farmland; today its main crop is rice rather than the cotton it was originally built for.

By Plane

The nearest airport is Bamako (BKO IATA).

By Road

Markala sits on the Niger about 35 km downstream from Ségou, on the road linking Ségou to the towns further north along the Office du Niger canal system.

• Markala Dam (Barrage de Markala) — the colonial-era irrigation weir on the Niger that diverts water into the Office du Niger canal system

• Ségou — regional capital, 35 km upstream
• Niono — Office du Niger town further along the canal system
• Bamako — national capital