‘Burkinabe Farmers Increased Their Crop Production By 800 Percent’
Oct 26 2009, Burkina Faso [BF], Livelihood opportunities
- Source:
- Miep Lenoir [mlenoir(at)iicd.org]
- Country:
- Burkina Faso [BF]
- Sector:
- Livelihood opportunities
Minata Coulibaly is a communication officer for FEPPASI, an IICD-supported organisation that unites more than 8000 farmers in the province Sissili in Burkina Faso. Coulibaly was in the Netherlands last month for a short presentation about her organisation. Five questions for her about the organisation and the farmers FEPPASI supports.
What does your organisation do?
‘Our general goal is to improve living conditions in Sissili by empowering farmers, improving production and creating sustainable agriculture.’
Could you give a concrete example of how you reach this goal?
Well, for instance, we train farmers on which seeds to use and how to make organic fertiliser. This way they increase their production and can sell a part to the market.
What type of ICT is FEPPASI using to reach their goal?
‘One of the things we do is that we train our extension workers to work with cameras. This way for instance the workers can take pictures when a crop is attacked by insects. The extension worker can then send the picture to a research institute that can tell what measures can be taken to prevent the crops from being eaten by insects.’
How do you reach illiterate farmers, who make up 80 percent of your target group?
‘We inform them by making PowerPoint presentations with a lot of pictures and hardly any text. Furthermore we also provide literacy trainings to famers so they can learn how to write and read in their local language.’
What is the accomplishment your organisation is most proud of?
‘The fact that there is now a satellite connection that enables FEPPASI and our members to better keep in touch with partners, and the fact that producers are now more organised and produce more. It’s still a challenge for farmers to think in terms of commercialisation and not just producing for themselves but overall things are going well. Since we started our project in the Sissili province, the crops production per hectare has increased from 0.5 to 4.5 tonnes.’