At the end of June, I went to Bomborokuy, a village located close to Dédougou. I was living at a bissap’s producer’s house, a member of UGCPA. My main objective was to better understand their daily lives. As such, I spent each day (or almost) with a different producer. At one of these ladies’ place, I got to learn how to prepare the famous tô. In Burkina, tô is one of the favorite meals, and most of the Burkinabes love it (similar to our meat pie in Quebec!) Tô can be made from many different cereals: millet, corn, sorghum, or beans. Once it is ready, it looks a bit like a thick puree. You then add some gravy (there are some many different types of gravy!), and you enjoy.
However, to reach this stage, many different steps must be undertaken (in my case, the cereal used was millet).
1- Take some millet that you have carefully grown in the last year
2- Using a pestle, crush the millet to extract the seeds
3- Clean the seeds to remove impurities
4- Still using the pestle, crush the seeds to get flour
5- Sift to remove impurities (once again!)
6- Light a fire and put a pot on it
7- Add some water to the flour, and put in the pot
8- Add some more flour, and stir energetically until the mix is a thick dough
9- Cool down, and eat along with some gravy
However, to reach this stage, many different steps must be undertaken (in my case, the cereal used was millet).
1- Take some millet that you have carefully grown in the last year
2- Using a pestle, crush the millet to extract the seeds
3- Clean the seeds to remove impurities
4- Still using the pestle, crush the seeds to get flour
5- Sift to remove impurities (once again!)
6- Light a fire and put a pot on it
7- Add some water to the flour, and put in the pot
8- Add some more flour, and stir energetically until the mix is a thick dough
9- Cool down, and eat along with some gravy
I tried to stir the mixture after adding some flour…but I barely managed to move the wooden spoon in the process! All of this took a few hours of work, and a lot of energy! To get to the field, most of the time you use a cart (otherwise a bike or on foot). Before the field is ready for sowing, it is necessary to remove the small bushes that have grown since the last harvest. After removing only three bushes, I had to stop because I already have three big blisters on my hands! Everybody was laughing…and they were right to do so! My skills are quite limited: I cannot prepare tô or remove bushes! Afterwards, it is time to plow the field, most of the time using a cow or a donkey.
The plots surround the village, and absolutely no space is unused. Since farmers cannot increase the size of their field, they need to find ways of increasing their yield. After finishing cleaning and plowing their plot, it is necessary to create lines of small holes using a daba. Men dig the holes, and the rest of the family pours some manure into these holes. After the first heavy rain, they will sow right next to the fertilized holes. Due to the manure, the land will be more fertile, and the seeds can grow!
At the village, farmers wait for the rain to come before starting to sow. Thus, they keep on preparing the land so that all that is left to do is to sow when the rain comes. This year, meteorologists have predicted that rain will be scarcer than usual. This is clearly felt here, as everyone is telling me that usually rain has already started at that time of year. This clearly shows how vulnerable the farmers are. Without rain, the field may be ready and very well prepared but still, nothing will grow. In these situations, the government doesn’t financially support the farmers. The harvest, their main revenue source, is lost, and there is no financial security.
Moreover, most of the farmers have no idea how much profit they make. The CEF is therefore a tool that can be used by the farmers to better follow and manage their plot. For example, a farmer might own a big salad plot. This year, he has been able to sow on a greater area. However, when harvest came, he hadn’t thought about the fact that he and his family wouldn’t be able to harvest all of the salads, and he loses part of the crop. A good solution would have been to hire an extra person or to sow at different times so that he can harvest at different times. The CEF is a tool that reduces farmers’ vulnerability.
The plots surround the village, and absolutely no space is unused. Since farmers cannot increase the size of their field, they need to find ways of increasing their yield. After finishing cleaning and plowing their plot, it is necessary to create lines of small holes using a daba. Men dig the holes, and the rest of the family pours some manure into these holes. After the first heavy rain, they will sow right next to the fertilized holes. Due to the manure, the land will be more fertile, and the seeds can grow!
At the village, farmers wait for the rain to come before starting to sow. Thus, they keep on preparing the land so that all that is left to do is to sow when the rain comes. This year, meteorologists have predicted that rain will be scarcer than usual. This is clearly felt here, as everyone is telling me that usually rain has already started at that time of year. This clearly shows how vulnerable the farmers are. Without rain, the field may be ready and very well prepared but still, nothing will grow. In these situations, the government doesn’t financially support the farmers. The harvest, their main revenue source, is lost, and there is no financial security.
Moreover, most of the farmers have no idea how much profit they make. The CEF is therefore a tool that can be used by the farmers to better follow and manage their plot. For example, a farmer might own a big salad plot. This year, he has been able to sow on a greater area. However, when harvest came, he hadn’t thought about the fact that he and his family wouldn’t be able to harvest all of the salads, and he loses part of the crop. A good solution would have been to hire an extra person or to sow at different times so that he can harvest at different times. The CEF is a tool that reduces farmers’ vulnerability.
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