“I would pay for my children’s studies,” said one man. “I’d renovate my home,” said another.
myAgro’s motto, “Grow more with myAgro!” emphasizes that with access to affordable agricultural inputs and the training to put them to good use, farmers can literally grow more food on their land, as much as doubling yields per hectare. This year myAgro launched a pilot program in Mali to help farmers “grow more” by cultivating more land, too. In Bougoula, Mali, myAgro agent Yaya Boire hosted an Open House Day on the program, bringing together a group of our middle-level farmers—smallholders by international standards—most who grow between 1 and 2 hectares. Many of these farmers successfully feed their families from their harvests but do not grow a surplus they can sell to move beyond subsistence farming and out of poverty.
What’s the difference between feeding your family with your harvest and growing enough that you can sell the surplus, too? When Yaya posed the question, farmers responded that if they could earn more money from agriculture, they could invest in their families’ futures. “I would pay for my children’s studies,” said one man. “I’d renovate my home,” said another. “I would put it towards my children, their school and marriage,” added a third. A fourth told the group, “I would help my children eat better,” highlighting how, even when they can provide enough staple cereal crops, families must work to ensure children eat diverse, nutritious diets.
For many Malian families, access to land is not a problem. It’s the costs and the labor involved in cultivating larger plots that prevent families from planting more of the acreage available to them. During the Open House Day, Yaya explained how myAgro would offer a price reduction to farmers on their 2nd hectare, making the larger inputs package—and the resulting larger harvest—more attainable for poor farmers. Later myAgro Agent Supervisor Jean Baptiste Dembele led a breakout workshop on efficient weeding techniques. Participants got a taste of the technical support myAgro offers over the growing season, creatively adapted to overcome the labor limits of smallholders. With a little more financial and technical support to expand their fields, farmers can grow more. As we say in Bambara, “Ka sènè soro yiriwa!”
-Kyla Neilan
