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The FarmQuest Project: Salimata Traoré

Manitoba Co-operator Staff — Mon, 11 Aug 2014 18:54:15 +0000

Salimata Traoré is a young woman anxious to build a future as a professional market gardener. In the past, she has grown a garden on a small scale, but now Traoré wants to grow on a larger scale. It won’t be easy.

Some of the difficulties Traoré faced in the past were access to seeds and traveling to neighbouring villages to sell her produce. But for her new endeavour, Traoré faces an unfortunately familiar challenge: gender inequality.

Traoré’s father-in-law disagrees with her starting a professional garden as it will reduce the young mother’s time for the family farm. Traoré does not stand alone. She has the support of local advisors in the Daba Kamalen project and other women who see this as an opportunity to help build a future for local women.

Traoré sums up her participation in the project by sharing a sentiment that can be applied to anyone in any part of the world – “It makes me happy to do something I enjoy.”

More from the FarmQuest Project: Mamadou Diarra

Watch the original video on YouTube.

Salimata Traoré is a contestant in Farmquest, a “radio reality” series sponsored by Farm Radio International, a Canadian organization that works with African radio stations to deliver extension information to farmers. Each of the six contestants submitted a business plan for a farm operation, and each was featured in a series on Radio Fanaka. The winner receives a cash prize to help start his or her new farm venture.

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The FarmQuest Project: Awa Doumbia

Manitoba Co-operator Staff — Tue, 13 May 2014 19:39:43 +0000

As part of the Daba Kabalen project, Awa Doumbia was given a one hectare field by her village chief to grow peanuts. But first the field needed to be cleaned up and plowed as it had never been used to grow crops.

Termites were also rife in the soil and Doumbia would need a pesticide to help her peanut crop succeed.

As a certified peanut seed producer, Doumbia’s peanut crop is also closely monitored by agronomists and her local advisor is always on hand to help her solve problems. Will Doumbia’s first peanut crop provide her with enough capital to recuperate startup costs and earn a profit? Click here to view the original video.

More from the FarmQuest project: Kafuné Mariko

Awa Doumbia is a contestant in Farmquest, a “radio reality” series sponsored by Farm Radio International, a Canadian organization that works with African radio stations to deliver extension information to farmers. Each of the six contestants submitted a business plan for a farm operation, and each was featured in a series on Radio Fanaka. We’ll feature each over the next few weeks. The winner receives a cash prize to help start his or her new farm venture.

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The FarmQuest Project: Fanto Samake

Manitoba Co-operator Staff — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 16:57:44 +0000

As a young boy in Mali, Fanto Samake started out his herd with just three cattle. Samake sees the advantages other farmers have who raise cattle, but it doesn’t come without its own set of challenges.

For instance, he can only milk his cows in the rainy season because there isn’t enough grazing pasture for them to produce enough milk during the dry season. In order to maintain his operation, Samake’s biggest challenge is finding a way to increase milk production so he can sell more to the dairy. Click here to view the original video.

More from the Manitoba Co-operator: Keeping young people on the farm – in Mali

Samake is a contestant in Farmquest, a “radio reality” series sponsored by Farm Radio International, a Canadian organization that works with African radio stations to deliver extension information to farmers. Each of the six contestants submitted a business plan for a farm operation, and each was featured in a series on Radio Fanaka. We’ll feature each over the next few weeks. The winner receives a cash prize to help start his or her new farm venture.

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Keeping young people on the farm — in Mali

Manitoba Co-operator Staff — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 14:28:04 +0000

It’s a worldwide challenge — convincing young people that farming can be a profitable and rewarding career. In Mali, a rural radio station is taking on the challenge through a contest developed along with Farm Radio International, a Canadian organization that works with more than 500 radio stations broadcasting to millions of farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Young farmers were invited to submit ideas for an innovative new farm business idea for the FarmQuest project, and six finalists were chosen. For six months, each week journalists from Radio Fanaka visited the contestants to record their progress. Contestants had advice from government agronomists and assistance in developing a business plan for their farming venture. Local performers composed original songs for each contestant, and the music was used in a “radio reality” broadcast about each one.

From the Country Guide website: The power to help Africa

The contestants are:

Kafuné Mariko, 20, a young mother whose project was to raise goats for milk and cheese production.
Fanto Samake, 18, who has one cow and submitted a project to increase his cattle production.
Awa Doumbia, 27, a mother of four who wants to grow peanuts.
Diakaridia Fomba, 35, who had left his village for a larger town but wants to return and start poultry and egg production.
Mamadou Diarra, 26, who has just returned to his region and wants to grow corn.
Salimata Traoré, 32. Her father-in- law has thwarted her efforts to farm but she wants to start a market garden.

The video below introduces the project and the contestants. Future videos will focus on each contestant.

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