USAID/Guinea: Food for Peace -- Battling Hunger Worldwide

APRIL 25, 2003

Africare -- Improving Rural Food Security in Dinguiraye

Through newly formed agricultural cooperatives, Africare is helping subsistence farmers in the food-insecure area of Dinguiraye increase the number of months per year that families have enough to eat.

For the 27-member agricultural cooperative of Tambanoro village, it is the first time they have worked together in a community garden. The women in the cooperative, which is made up of 21 women and six men, say that before non-governmental organization Africare began interventions in the region, each member worked in isolation--women planted their own vegetable gardens on their own small plots of land according to old traditions or habits and never thought to compare notes to see what techniques worked best. With regard to social interaction, the women in this rural enclave said they often went a good month or more without even seeing or speaking to their neighbors.

Through the encouragement of non-governmental organization Africare, the women of Tambanoro have discovered the advantages of solidarity both in social interaction, and in sharing agricultural resources and know-how--they have formed an agricultural cooperative and for the past year and a half have been working together on a community garden.

old way of planting a garden in Tambanoro

Gardens that once looked like this...

woman in Tambanoro women's ag co-op working in the community field

... now look like this. Africare has taught villagers throughout rural Dinguiraye new gardening techniques, which they are now applying to their own family gardens.

What benefits have they gotten from the cooperative? "Many!" says Adama Doumbouya, President of the cooperative. "We have made changes in the way we are working, and we are now producing much more than we used to. We're selling more in the market, and we're also able to put some money aside since our families and our entourage at home are also consuming the food that we are producing."

By helping women's groups form agricultural cooperatives in rural communities, USAID-sponsored P.L. 480 partners like Africare are showing women that there is strength--and economic benefit--in numbers. Through pooling their resources, they are able to improve their working conditions by buying improved seed varieties, sharing tools, and renting services like the use of a plow and bulls, all of which the women of Tambanoro were unable to do individually. At the same time, Africare is using community gardens to demonstrate modern agricultural techniques that are, according the women, producing higher yields.

Says Hadiatou Modibo, a member of the Tambanoro cooperative, "With the new methods of planting and taking care of our plants that we've learned through Africare, we're producing vegetables in greater quantities, and of better quantity."

Red onions from the Tambonoro co-op's community garden.

Says Dr. Sidibé Sidikiba, Project Coordinator of the Guinea Food Security Initiative, "With regard to agriculture, our major goals are to increase and diversify agricultural production." This is achieved through introduction of new agricultural technology at the community level such as improved seeds and tools, new planting and plant maintenance techniques, and the use of vegetable varieties never before used in the region including carrots, potatoes, and soybeans.

Women are also learning basic product transformation techniques to give products added value, and to allow for their consumption throughout the year. Such techniques include the canning of mangos, which are abundant in the region during the "mango season," and the transformation of soy beans into milk, coffee, and a widely-used condiment called "soumbara*," used for flavoring local dishes. The techniques used for these procedures are all adapted to local means, and use local resources such as the use of sterilized jars and candle wax as a sealant for mango, tomato and guava canning.

According to Carine Colas, Africare/Guinea Country Representative, Africare initiatives have encouraged the Ministry of Agriculture to provide good technical support through field visits to farm sites to ensure that proper techniques are being used for grain production and vegetable gardening. Says Colas, "Each year we create a joint action plan with the SNPRV** (the technical unit of the decentralized branch of the Guinean Agricultural Ministry). This helps us ensure the smooth transfer of capacity-building and new technical skills to women's co-ops and 'mixed' [men and women's] agricultural groups, and ensures the overall sustainability of our project."

For the USAID-sponsored project, food security exists when all people at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs, and when the food they eat allows them to lead a healthy, active life. Food security can be achieved though improving food availability, food access, and proper utilization--using the food that is available in the best way possible.

improved granary constructed and being used successfully by a farmer in Heleabhe village, Dinguiraye

Improved grain storage reduces loss, and allows farmers to benefit from their own production.

With regard to creating access, a fundamental problem of buying and selling that exists in the region is now being resolved through the construction and use of improved granaries both by the cooperatives as well as by individual farmers. The problem is similar to the way "the company stores" in the U.S. once took advantage of local workers-businesspeople in the region have long prayed upon subsistence farmers by purchasing their grains during the harvest. Then, through good conservation techniques, they store the grains and end up reselling those same grain commodities back to the farmers for double or triple the price during the rainy season when farmers are unable to cultivate. The result is that subsistence farmers get more and more into debt with local businessmen, often owing their whole next harvest in advance.

To break this vicious cycle, local agricultural co-ops, along with some individual farmers, have been making improved granaries designed by Africare for storage during the off-season. Traditional storage methods would typically result in 40-50% losses due to rodents, insects, and rotting. With the newer methods, losses are reduced to about 10%, and, more importantly, the co-ops offer grain for sale to local members with only a 5-10% benefit margin, allowing local farmers to benefit from their own production without falling into debt.

Improved seeds and tools have also resulted in higher quality and quantity of yields.

The improved storage techniques, along with the organization of 50 women's groups with 830 members in the Dinguiraye region who are using improved gardening methods and improved seeds and tools, have increased food security from three to five "secure" months in many parts of the region. Given these statistics, there are still serious food security concerns that need to be addressed. Although it takes time to adopt new techniques, the process of change is in motion--women's co-ops have harvested more than six tons of vegetables this past season, 30% of which were consumed by the members and their households, and 70% of which was sold. In addition to learning new food processing techniques, women's co-ops have also increased their revenues and savings and are now beginning to invest their capital by creating revolving credit funds for their members.

The Tambanoro co-op recently made a decision to pay for insecticide services provided through the Ministry of Agriculture. Traditionally, the women would put wood cinders over the plants to prevent bug invasions, but the crickets were damaging their tomato plants. The cost of spraying? Six dollar and fifty cents-a steep price for individual families in that poor region of Guinea. however, through the well-organized group, the cost became affordable. Modibo responded, "We calculated the cost versus the benefits we would derive--we know that if we protect our tomatoes, we'll have a good product to take to market, and our returns will more than cover the cost of the spraying."

Members of the Tambanoro women's cooperative

A potential problem the Tambanoro co-op faces in the future is the question of land ownership. The field the women share for their community vegetable garden is, in fact, being loaned to them by a neighbor--no paperwork has been signed, and the oral agreement goes from year to year. Since the co-op has increased the value of the parcel through clearing the field, adding natural fertilizer to the soil and improving the fencing around the parcel, the women were urged to formalize their agreement in writing, and to discuss renewal well before the end of the year each time the agreement is to be renewed.

What is the next step for the women of Tambanoro? Says Modibo, "What we would really like now is to learn how to read and write." Plans to begin USAID-sponsored literacy classes for the Tambanoro agricultural co-op are in fact planned later in the year to meet this need. The agricultural committee of the Tambanoro cooperative is currently made up of four women and one man--the latter chosen as the secretary since he is the only member of the group to know how to read and write. Although they are grateful to the secretary for his help, co-op President Doumbouya concedes, "Once our female members know how to read and write, we would like to keep the group's records by ourselves.

*Soumbara is a dried powder made from the néré fruit. It is often combined with dried bonga fish, hot pepper, and sometimes small dried shrimp and used to flavor many Guinean dishes.

**SNPRV: Service Nationale de Promotion Rurale et Vulgarization Agricole or Guinean National Agricultural Extension Services.

Story and photos by Laura Lartigue