One of our farmers practicing how to use the new planting stick during a training session in Ferekoroba
This week, we delivered vegetable packages to over 200 farmers in 40 different villages. Each package cost 4500 CFA ($8) and included seeds, fertilizer, a planting stick and a 4m string. The planting stick and the 4m string help ensure that the farmers follow the myAgro method that they are taught in the weekly training sessions.
Included in every package is technical training, so that the farmers can learn ways to improve their agricultural methods. The first training for the vegetable program teaches farmers how to make a quality nursery for their plants. Of the five vegetable varieties that we offer (cabbage, tomato, onion, hot peppers and okra), all but the okra require the use of a nursery to increase germination and foster a strong root system prior to transplanting the plants into the larger planting plot. The nursery training encourages farmers to change their traditional method of planting a seedbed. In the past, farmers would simply broadcast (throw) their seeds in a small area and then wait a few weeks to transplant the surviving plants. This method does not give enough space for the root system of each plant to thrive, so farmers would have high rates of plant mortality (upwards of 50%). So the myAgro method changes this practice to allow for proper spacing and greater root development.
To help increase adoption of the myAgro method, we provided each farmer with a planting stick that enables them to make their seedbeds. On March 25th, one of myAgro’s vegetable agents, Bakary Tangara, conducted a seedbed training to 15 farmers in Ferekoroba. It was very successful and the farmers ask great questions about how to use the planting stick, which is a great sign. When our farmers ask a lot of questions, it usually indicates that they are interested and will do their best to integrate the new method.
In the upcoming weeks, we will be sending a team of auditors out to monitor and evaluate the program and how well the farmers are adopting the trainings in their fields. This will help us continue to modify and improve the trainings and the overall program to better meet the needs of our farmers.
