-Guests stepped right into the fields, touched stalks and leaves, remarked at yellow corn cobs bursting from their husks, bent low to examine peanut plants, and took lots—and lots—of mobile phone photos.-
In September, the Bamako office produced a demonstration day, or journée de visite, to give potential myAgro farmers a first-hand look at the great work myAgro has accomplished in the Dialakoroba commune. This year myAgro is expanding into a new commune, so we invited a male and female farmer from targeted villages to spend a day visiting myAgro farmers and their fields. From the arrival of the first sotrama in the village of Tadianabougou, the day was off to a great start: the guests were greeted with the beating of drums and the chanting of myAgro’s local slogan. After a lively round of introductions, our fabulous field agent, Alima, MC for the day, kept everyone chuckling as she reminded them of the benefits of working with myAgro. Guests watched a quick promotional film, and then headed to a maize field and a peanut field, with proud myAgro farmers strutting ahead, eager to show off their myAgro hectares. Each current myAgro farmer talked about his or her experience with myAgro, including initial doubts and concerns as well as obvious pleasure and pride at their robust, healthy crops. Guests stepped right into the fields, touched stalks and leaves, remarked at yellow corn cobs bursting from their husks, bent low to examine peanut plants, and took lots—and lots—of mobile phone photos.
Additional guests were enjoying the same scenario at another village, and midway through the day the groups switched, so everyone had an opportunity to check out myAgro fields in multiple locations. Afterwards, the two groups gathered for lunch and a debriefing, posed additional questions, and received myAgro t-shirts, certificates of participation, and photos of the myAgro farmers who presented their fields that they could share with their home villages. In total, 56 potential farmers—each hand-selected as a social leader, or innovator, in his or her village—were in attendance, and each went home with stories and tools to talk about myAgro’s program with family, neighbors, and friends.
The impact of the demo day was huge, in both qualitative and quantitative terms. The person-to-person interaction increased confidence exponentially, as guests asked questions of experienced myAgro farmers, interacted with the field agents who will support them throughout the myAgro program, and met each other, solidifying the myAgro network as a community.
myAgro meeting attendance in new villages nearly doubled following the demo day, and continue at equally high levels. And in just the first week of the enrollment period, over a hundred farmers have already signed up in the new commune. We will continue to encourage our guests to spread the word about myAgro’s impact, and we will definitely replicate the format going forward, perhaps on different scales and at different points of the growing season. Our office staff worked incredibly hard to ensure guests had a fun experience and learned as much as possible. I am grateful to them and to the current and future myAgro farmers who dedicate themselves to better harvests, and better lives.
