Entry: Bill Guyton, World Cocoa Foundation; Jean-Yves Couloud, STCP/Cote d'Ivoire; and Euphrasie Aka, STCP/Cote d'Ivoire

While visiting the Sustainable Tree Crops Program Farmer Field School in N’Gbasso, Cote d’Ivoire, we met several of the farmers participating in the training program. Three of the many farmers that shared their stories with us are Mr. Gnanzou Ehile, Mr. Salif Keita and Mr. Baki Gonsongo.

Photo: Mr. Salif Keita (fourth from left) and Mr. Gnanzou Ehile (fifth from left) at the Farmer Field School site in N'Gbasso.

Mr. Ehile lives in the nearby village of Mpossa with his wife and four children. He attended the Farmer Field School in 2005. Initially, he was skeptical of the Farmer Field School approach, but now is one of the greatest supporters of the program in his area. By implementing the techniques he learned, he has increased production to 900 kg per hectare on his 4 hectare farm. As a result of his increased income, Mr. Ehile is now able to afford his diabetes medication. Encouraged by the results, Mr. Ehile purchased an additional 3 hectares in 2006 to plant with improved cocoa varieties.

Photo: Mr. Salif Keita and Bill Guyton.

Mr. Keita is a 51 year-old cocoa farmer originally from Mali who is married with 10 children. In addition to his three hectare farm, he owns a small shop in the village. Over the past year, Mr. Keita participated in the Farmer Field School where he learned to recognize and control cocoa pests and diseases while protecting the environment. He began to apply these skills to his farm and realized a 40% increase in production. With the resulting increase in income, Mr. Keita is able to better stock his shop, send his children to school, and communicate with his parents in Mali using his new cell phone. For the first time in seven years, he was able to visit his relatives in Mali and is planning to build a house there.

Photo: Mr. Baki Gonsongo

Mr. Gonsongo is a 45 year-old farmer who is originally from Burkina Faso. He is a sharecropper on the farm where the Farmer Field School is held and also has his own 5 hectare cocoa plot. He mentioned that last year he was considering abandoning the 1 hectare sharecropped plot because it was only producing 300 kg of cocoa per year. Through the Farmer Field School, he learned techniques for improving farm productivity such as phytosanitary harvesting, rational use of pesticides, and pest and disease control. By implementing these techniques on both his personal farm and the sharecropped plot, he was able to increase annual production to 400 kg per hectare only one year later. With the extra income, he was able to pay for his wife’s medical expenses and purchase a cell phone to communicate regularly with his parents in Burkina Faso.