Progress Report: Farmers of the Future GG
Supported by RC Colorado Springs
David Smith, RC Pagosa Springs
This report was prepared at the end of my visit to Niamey, Niger in Feb-Mar 2023.
Yesterday, Hamani, Moustapha and Balkissa took me to see our Farmers of the Future project. Hamani and Moustapha are members of our Host Club, Rotary Club Gaweye Niamey. Balkissa works at the farm every day, often traveling on her motorcycle from Niamey. She is the on-site manager and seems to know everything that is happening at our farm. Some photos with explanations follow:
There is a police checkpoint 2-3 miles before our village. A hundred yards before the checkpoint, I was transformed into Sheikh Eben David from Qatar. The village chief sat in the front seat and took us through the checkpoint. Everybody knows him! Photo of Balkissa, Sheikh Eben David and the village chief in the background.
Trees have been planted on most of the 1.3 h of land in a 2 m x 2 m grid. They will grow to shade other crops. The trees are trimmed to allow just enough light to enter.
It was a cloudy day, so the solar powered pump in the well was producing only a little water.
I wanted to know what remains of such projects 10 yrs after funding stops, so we visited another site that was established with a similar grant 10-12 years ago. It is flourishing. Green everywhere. Seedlings everywhere. The ladies are making good money selling mango trees that they have grafted to sturdier root stock. Given the number of potted mango trees, I think they concentrating on this business.
Hamani was pleased to find pineapple growing here. It was the ladies idea to grow pineapple.
