海角大神

In Africa, it is often said that poverty has a woman鈥檚 face. Rural women face discrimination聽just like those in other socioeconomic sectors, particularly where access to land is concerned.聽But in Burkina Faso, the nonprofit association La Saisonni猫re (French for 鈥渢he seasonal one鈥�) has developed a technique to help women climb out of poverty while growing聽organic food.

鈥淲hen I started coming to La Saisonni猫re in 2006, I had no bicycle, no idea how to take care聽of a garden, and no income generating activity,鈥� says La Saisonni猫re鈥檚 team leader and聽producer Aminata Sinar茅. 鈥淭oday, I know how to garden and I own a motorcycle.鈥�

Like her, many women have seen their living conditions improve thanks to the nonprofit.聽Initially created as an informal group in 2003, La Saisonni猫re became an association in 2006,聽after it planted a garden to grow crops. Since 2007, it has endeavored to help disadvantaged聽women in the 10th district of Burkina Faso鈥檚 capital, Ouagadougou, on land granted by the聽city council.

La Saisonni猫re has a market garden with a wide array of African agricultural products, but its聽activities also include sewing, weaving, and even carpentry. Determined that the empowerment聽of women can only be achieved through education, the association also teaches the women reading and mathematics. Some 30 women are learning gardening, and another 80 are participating in weaving and sewing workshops. All of the women are selected based on vulnerability criteria.

Since its creation, the association has promoted organic farming. Its efforts paid off in聽October 2017, when it received the SPG organic certification label, one of the first national organic labels in West Africa, issued by the National聽Council of Organic Agriculture, which guarantees production according to the聽Burkinabe organic farming standard. Chemicals are replaced by a mix of rice husks, peanut聽shells, and compost made by the women.

In 2015, La Saisonni猫re also started focusing on soilless culture. The Italian nongovernmental organization Acra introduced the micro-gardening method to the association by building cultivation tables about 10 square feet in size on site. This technique keeps vegetables clean聽throughout the growing process and consumes less water thanks to drip irrigation.聽Everything can be grown on the table with the exception of corn and okra.

"Thanks to the Acra project, I went to Dakar [Senegal] to learn this technique and bring it聽here. We teach it to women, children, and our students,鈥� explains Ms. Sinar茅.聽She says if women who do not have access to arable land learn this technique, they can聽produce what they want for their own consumption at home, and sell the surplus at the local聽market. For example, a full table of spinach sells for 1,000 CFA francs ($1.80). For sorrel,聽she says, "I can sell my four tables for 1,500 CFA francs ($2.69)."

According to Sophie Sedgho, president of the association and a retired professor of natural聽sciences, each woman is entitled to seven boards with a cultivable surface of about 65 square feet. Some of it is grown for their family and the rest is destined for market. "They can keep聽the proceeds of what they sell but we are there to follow them through training, behavior聽management, and marketing strategies. Each woman contributes 1,500 CFA francs ($2.69) a month to聽pay for a night watchman," says Ms. Sedgho, adding,聽"They are often close to the legal minimum wage."

Underground cultivation is another technique practiced at La Saisonni猫re. In 2015, a聽water shortage ceased being an issue for these gardeners. 鈥淭he mayor gave us a manual drill.聽It was annoying because it was difficult to get the water. We then replaced it with a pump,聽which broke down,鈥� recalls Sedgho. They decided to install a solar-powered water pump, at a聽cost of 4 million CFA francs (about $7,200). All the women helped pay for it.

Today, the association still faces one major challenge: poor yields, especially during summer聽heat waves and winter floods. This difficulty aside, Sedgho says that聽everything runs smoothly. "We have a lot of orders. Our customers are mainly local residents.聽We are on Facebook, people see us and travel for miles to come and buy. But we do prioritize聽the locals,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e organize a farm gate market, people walk through and buy from us聽directly. We are very happy with this method because our customers know exactly what they聽are going to consume.鈥�

Perhaps best of all, thanks to聽gardening, the women are now contributing to their children鈥檚 education and their families鈥櫬爀xpenses.

This story was reported by L鈥橢conomiste du Faso, a news outlet in Burkina Faso. The Monitor is publishing it as part of Impact Journalism Day, an international effort by more than 50 news organizations worldwide to promote solutions journalism. To read other stories in this joint project organized by Paris-based Sparknews, please click here.