“When I saw how myAgro works with its farmers, it gave me the courage to double my own efforts.” – Kebe Sane
Keba Sane is a 35-year-old farmer and myAgro vendor assistant in Senegal. Originally from the village of Missira, he now lives and works in Touba Fall, Tambacounda. Keba first enrolled with myAgro in 2013, when he signed up to grow 1/16th of a hectare of peanuts on his farmland. After one of the best harvests he has ever had he told us, “The seeds were good and I had no problems. With the 1/16th hectare package of peanuts, I had a better harvest than before when I was planting half a hectare of land.”
Keba signed up again this year to grow peanuts, while also taking on the vendor assistant role in his community. The role of a vendor assistant is to mobilize for payments and collect these payments directly from farmers in their villages. This way, farmers don’t have to travel to the myAgro boutique in order to save up for their myAgro inputs. Keba says that it was very important to him to become a vendor assistant so that he could better promote myAgro in Touba Fall. “When I saw how myAgro works with its farmers, it gave me the courage to double my own efforts.” Keba reports that he likes being a vendor assistant and that he wanted the role because he saw for himself that the methods and certified seeds made a big difference for farmers.
Keba encourages farmers in Touba Fall to save with myAgro by reminding them of what they can achieve by completing their savings packets. “I do my best to encourage farmers, even those who didn’t sign up this year, just to increase awareness. Working with myAgro is to our advantage and it creates development in our community.” Keba tells us that most farmers make their payments on the weekends, so he goes door-to-door on Saturdays to talk to farmers and mobilize for payments. Keba also visits farmers when the myAgro field agent for Touba Fall (also named Keba!) passes through the village. Keba faces challenges when farmers do not have enough money to buy cards, but he says that he encourages them to make payments little by little to complete their packets.
Over the course of planting season, vendor assistants play a pivotal role in helping farmers to complete their savings packets. Keba embraces the myAgro motto in his work in Touba Fall – “Suqali njëriñu mbéy mi!” “Grow more with myAgro!”
