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“Development is a chain” Seydou Sidibé
Seydou Sidibé is a community based facilitator (CBF) at a Farmer Learning Platform (FLP) and inputs shop in Boidié, a rural commune in the Cercle of Barouéli in the Ségou Region of southern-central Mali. Sidibé said:
“I am the intermediary and facilitator between the Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) in Mali and the village community. SAA is very important in Boidié because of the volume of work they do here. When SAA came in, they showed us the benefits of micro dosing fertilizer technology...
Student-led SAFE programme helps communities focus on value-chain oriented agriculture
Robert Koomson is a farmer from the Krofu Agro Processors Association, located in Krofu, Mfantsiman Municipal District, Central Region of Ghana. Elisabeth Utuka is also from the central region and from the Theomark Enterprise, situated in Assin Edubiase. The two farmers were in attendance at the West Africa Regional Sasakawa Africa Fund for Extension Education (SAFE) Stakeholder Workshop, held in Accra, Ghana. Dr Festus Annor-Frempong, Head of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extensi...
“Acquiring business skills has transformed my life, my families”, Kawumba Carol
30 years old Kawumba Carol lives in Bukomolo village, Nandere parish, Kadama Sub County in the Kibuku District of Eastern Uganda. Her success started when she was sponsored by SG-2000 Uganda to go for a farm study tour in Masaka, a town in the Central Region of Uganda, west of Lake Victoria, under the Farmer Based Organizations (FBOs) project.
That trip to Masaka changed Kawumba’s life, as narrated in her story: “We were taken to a model farmer, a woman whom many admired. She had banana farm...
Empowering Group with Special Needs
The Sashemene Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy is supported by the Nippon Foundation, and the Sasakawa Africa Fund for Extension Education (SAFE) as part of the initiative and rationale behind cooperation and selection of user friendly agricultural enterprises for Farmer Based Organization (FBO) members with special needs. In Kuyera, located just north of the main Shashemene town some 260 km south of the Ethiopian capital, this association had been granted 1.5 acres of land by the muni...
SG-2000 Ethiopia Empowering Women through CDP-WAD
28 years old single mother of three Yiftusira Ashenef is a host farmer of Community Demonstration Plot (CDP) in a 0.1 hectare plot in Wikma village of Gol Wikma Kebele, Enarj Enawga Woreda, East Gojam Zone, Amhara region of Ethiopia. She received training at farmers training center (FTC) organized in 30 members’ farmer group, of whom five were women. She first took training on agronomic practices like soil management, line planting, spacing, weeding, and post-harvest handling as well as training...
"We realized crop failure is farmers’ failure"
This is the Maize Multi Actor Value-chain Platform and Disability Intervention in Tudun Wada, Kano state, Nigeria. The project is supported by SAA Nigeria’s Farmer Based Organizations (FBOs) program.
Muhammmad Yaro is a maize Commodity Association Trainer (C.A.T.). He explained: “We have been organized in this maize commodity value-chain organization since January 27, 2014. I am training farmer groups specializing in the maize value-chain, which is functioning well. Last year’s harvest produced...
SAA programs support women smallholder farmers in Mali
Women Assisted Demonstrations (WADs) are one of the Farmer Learning Platforms (FLPs) implemented as part of SAA’s focus country programs. In Mali, a total of 360 WADs involving 10 technologies were conducted in 120 villages in four administrative regions (Koulikoro, Kayes, Segou and Sikasso) during the 2015 cropping year. It is vitally important that women farmers are included in all stages of the agriculture value chain, and their involvement goes beyond gender specifi c programs like the Women...
Not one bean lost--something we never thought would be possible!
Grain storage loss to insects is a major challenge for smallholder farmers, at times estimated to be at least 20 percent for major crops such as corn and common beans. Without crop-saving bags, farmers need to sell their crops soon after harvest or use insecticides which are not necessarily effective or may not be safe because of improper use.
Ethiopian farmers, as in many other African countries, store their grains in traditional storage facilities constructed from mud, clay, dung, and plan...
"Implementing technologies has transformed the lives of me and my family"
Farmer Bashir Lemma is from Lalonora Kebele of Begi Woreda in Western Wolega zone, Ethiopia. He is an award winning farmer and father of seven. Bashir said: “Since I began using farming technologies introduced by the Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA), my quality of life has improved. One year after adopting improved seed varieties and a line sowing method, I began harvesting significantly higher yields.” Bashir left education 23 years ago at grade eight, aged 14. He remarked, “Thanks to the tech...
Maico Kaiondo, disability is not inability.
Chivuvu savings and credit group is a social fund group located in the Mityana District of the Central Region of Uganda. Maico Kaiondo, who is blind, is the chairperson of the group. He is a respected member of the community, model farmer, and trader in Chivuvu village. He has his farm, goat yard, piggery, chicken and other poultry, and a small eucalyptus forest.
"The social fund group has 20 members. We have the committee that leads the group and I am the chairperson. All these people ...
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Voices from the Field Special Edition 2022
This is a special edition of the "Voices from the Field" articles.
