The purpose of this paper is to review the Malian experience with cereals market reforms over the past 18 years and evaluate its contribution to agricultural transformation in Mali. We especially emphasize the importance of the interaction between sectoral reforms, macroeconomic reforms, and technological change in influencing farmers' and traders' incentives to make the investments necessary for agricultural and food system transformation. The paper draws heavily on a large body of research carried out by Malian, North American and European researchers since 1985 (see, for example, Dioné forthcoming; Dembélé and Staatz forthcoming; Diarra et al. forthcoming) and on a recent evaluation of the PRMC in which the authors participated (Dembélé, Traoré, and Staatz 1999; Shields, Staatz, and Dembélé 1999; Egg, 1999).