Poulet, Chevre, et Poisson

August 12, 2010


Since arriving in village I have been putting my client development skills to work to identify enthusiastic counterparts throughout my village that I can partner with to carry out my work. Recently, I was introduced to a field agent that works with ICAT, a governmental organization that provides support for famers throughout the country. Djossou, the field agent is responsible for meeting with local farming associations to help them with management, implementation techniques, and overall training to increase the farmer’s harvest. Djossou has been kind enough to take me under his wing and now includes me in most of his meetings throughout the village, introduces me to Association Presidents, and serves as a trusted translator for me when working with Ewe speaking villagers

This week Djossou invited me to a two day seminar that was being hosted by ICAT and CARE International for the farmers within the Maritime region. The seminar covered topics including how to properly house livestock, proper nutrition, vaccinations, and how to keep livestock healthy. Having been in Togo for almost 3 months, I have come to expect that meeting start about 2 hours late, people sleep throughout the session, and the session facilitators have no agenda set up before the meeting. I was pleasantly surprised to see that ICAT defied all odds and actually started the session on time, had a clear agenda set, and writing materials were passed out to all participants. In total 27 farmers participated and 10 ICAT agents were there to provide their expertise.

I learned more about raising livestock in those two days then I could ever have wanted to learn. During the program, the farmers broke out into working groups based on the livestock they raise and did a best practices session. I made a number of contacts throughout the community and have been invited to participate in a number of association meetings going forward.

While I had no expectation of working with farmers when I came here, I think there is a great opportunity to help with management and financing. While these farmers are very knowledgeable about raising livestock and crops, many of them do not efficiently run their farm as a business.

The next week Djossou and I spent the whole day in the rice paddies where I learning harvesting techniques, visited milling houses where the rice is separated from the “envelope”, and visited individual farmers. One of the rice groupments that I have been invited to work with announced good news, since the last meeting 3 members of the group received a loan from a local microfinance organization of 500.000 CFA (equivalent of $1000) each to aid in the cultivation of rice. If those members pay back the loan in its entirety and on time, additional loans will be extended to all 14 members of the group. This is a great advancement as microfinance organizations are very leery of loaning funds to farmers in my region based on their past experiences working with such groups. This is a great example on group loaning techniques as the three members of the groupment will be supported and encouraged by the rest of the group to pay the loan back to ensure additional cash flow. This technique has been touted as one of the most successful loan programs in the microfinance space due to its emphasis on community dynamics and peer involvement.

Before departing for the day, Djossou treated me to a meal of fufu and sauce de chevre (goat) where I was served a huge lump of pounded yam (fufu=yummy) and goat (organ=not so yummy.) Usually I am good at finishing my plate out of respect but this time I had to take an L.