A few women started singing a song about myAgro while another broke out into spontaneous dance.
Vegetable trainings are in full swing in Senegal. myAgro rolled out a new trial in December: 3500 cfa (approx $7 USD) for a 50 meter2 packet of vegetable seed. Vegetables included are cabbage, gumbo, tomatoes, African eggplant, okra and peppers. A key focus of our field agents has been to mobilize farmers to complete their packets on time and start training. Once packets are completed farmers can participate in our three part interactive farmer trainings: seed beds, transplantation and weeding/growth maintenance.
Seedbed training starts with a game-like demonstration: “Take this bundle of sticks and let them fall. Now take a stick from the middle. What happens?” The intended effect is that removing a stick from the middle disrupts the other ones on top. “The sticks are like seeds. If you let seed fall into the same hole, they have to fight to grow.”
“Now, put the sticks in a line, with space in between. Take one from the middle. What happens?” The stick is easily removed without disrupting the other sticks. “When a seed can mature without battling other seeds, it grows stronger.” With this at the forefront of farmers’ minds, the agent turned to creating a model seedbed step-by-step.
Seedbeds measure 1m x 50cm. Using a string measuring 1 meter the agent creates the boundaries, demonstrating the depth of the boundaries as the distance between your fingertip and knuckle. Then he begins to use his finger as another measuring tool for spacing lines and seeds in the seedbed. One thing that myAgro trainings incorporate is using what is readily available to everyone, things such as a piece of string and your hand.
After the agent completed the model seedbed, the farmers are asked to make one themselves. One by one, they contribute to the creation of a few seedbeds. Energy levels shoot up during this activity, many farmers asking questions or correcting each other as they progressed. A few women started singing a song about myAgro while another broke out into spontaneous dance.
The training concludes with the agents explaining final details to the farmers: input delivery is in two weeks, there will be a raffle for those who finish their packets and a film showing next week reviewing this training. The agent also emphasizes the importance of following myAgro’s methods and to wait to plant until there is an agent present to answer any questions.
As all farmer visits end, we all snap and say “Suqali njérïnu mbéy mi”, the wolof slogan for myAgro.
