Gbomlimba GFP beneficiaries one year later
Back in October, I wrote about spending a day with the five families in Gbomlimba, one of six villages in the inaugural cohort of the COFA “agric” project. Now, they and the other 25 families (in five other villages) are halfway through a second season without new financial inputs from COFA, and every one of them is thriving. It’s even better than we’d hoped for.
Here is what families reported to Mohamed Sesay, the agronomist project manager, about the results from the last set of crops of year 1–rice and groundnuts planted in September/October 2023.
Every farm started with 50 kg of seeds each for rice and groundnuts. The yields varied a lot—for rice, from 300 to 1000 kg harvested, with most in the 500-750 kg range. They all tried hard to reserve 100-200 kg to plant in the next cropping season, the family consumed about an equal amount, and they sold the remainder—almost all families able to sell at least half of the crop. The groundnut yields and amounts reserved were similar, but the families consumed somewhat less, leaving more to sell.
GPF itself purchased saved seed from these farmers to supply the 2024 class—a total of 1250 husk rice and 125 kg of groundnut seeds, plus vegetable seeds.
Here’s what the families told Mohamed about how they used the profits from the groundnuts and rice:
- Expanding the farm, hiring laborers, settling medical bills
- Settling children in school
- Paying school fees, expanding the farm, buying household items
- Buying fertilizer and expanding the farm
- Paying school fees and making house repairs
- Buying farm tools and expanding the farm
- Buying clothing and farm tools, paying medical bills, and buying food not produced on the farm
- Buying a used motorbike to transport crops to market
- Saving some money and expanding the farm
- Paying for a mother-in-law’s funeral ceremony
The families will also be giving back to their communities with a pass-on-the gift program. When chickens and goats are born, the young will be passed on to non-GFP families in the villages, with the goal of reaching all families.
COFA isn’t walking away from its 2023 class, but continuing to spend time in the 2023 villages, providing technical assistance and advancements. This year, Mohamed and the extension workers have gone to each village to teach and provide advice for digging and maintaining composting pits to provide organic fertilizer for the farmers. It’s better for the environment than chemical fertilizer (all imported) and will be much more economical.
We’re also starting a pilot program in three villages to allow farmers to process their cassava crops, adding considerable value over what they can make selling it unprocessed. And it creates jobs for workers to operate the machinery, charging farmers a reasonable fee. COFA purchased the first three machines, but if it’s successful, it could be expanded to many villages through microfinancing. Training and processing will start in September to coincide with the cassava harvest, and we should know the results by the end of the year.
Don’t forget, the families we recruited for GFP started out among the poorest in their communities. They’re not rich now, but they can feed their families, educate their children, and live respectable lives in their communities.
Thank you for giving them this gift.