25/10/2021
Eugenio Attard, Mani Tese’s Country Manager in Burkina Faso, recorded on video a day during which he carried out checks and inspections with the women targeted by the “Project to improve the nutritional conditions of women and children in the health districts of Garango and Tenkodogo, Burkina Faso”, co-financed by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation and led by the NGO AES-CCC.
Specifically, Eugenio visited the bas-fond rizicole, the areas where water accumulates during the rainy season and where the women, trained by Mani Tese, cultivate rice. “Generally, good results have been observed in all the plots entrusted to them,” says Eugenio. “The improvement in rice production yields that the women have confirmed is due to their mastery of compost production techniques, its correct use and in-line sowing, techniques that most of the women did not know before.” “All the beneficiaries are satisfied with the results. The vast majority noted greater ease in field care activities and an optimisation of space, which will allow them to have a higher production.”
Eugenio then visited the experimental rice plots of Bidiga (Tenkodogo) and Guebidi (Garango). These are demonstration plots in which the difference in results between the use of traditional techniques (i.e. with any non-organic fertilisers and random sowing) and that with the techniques learned during the project (compost and in-line sowing) is compared.
“Normally, the women sowed randomly and therefore did not use the land well,” explains Eugenio. “Where the traditional technique was used, i.e. a random sowing not in line, in fact, the harvest was proportionally about 50% lower.”
Finally, Eugenio attended the inauguration of two rice processing centres in Daze (Tenkodogo) and Kayo (Garango). “It was an important and beautiful moment. In each village, the community welcomed us with great enthusiasm and attended together with the women, the project partners, the technical services of agriculture and the local authorities,” says Eugenio. “All the centres are about 30 square metres and consist of a warehouse room and a space dedicated to processing machinery. They are managed by groups of women who will be trained between September and October, first in the administrative and financial management of the centres and then in the use of specific machinery, processing techniques and rice parboiling. The groups that will manage the two new processing centres, thanks to the support of Mani Tese, have already been formally established as cooperatives.
Below is Eugenio’s video story and some photos of the mission.
