Farmers Find Hope, Security

Heidi Isaza - Posted on December 1, 2008

In July we met Pierre Faye one of the 50 farmers participating in the pilot Drip Irrigation Program, the Tipa Farmers, in Tattaguine. These farmers have just completed their first year using this alternative method to be able to produce food during the dry season and when they have unpredictable or insufficient rains. This month, we spoke with Biram Bakhoum, president of the Tipa Farmer’s Group, about how the project has affected him and his family.

Life used to be a struggle of survival for Biram. It was hard for him to produce enough food for his wife and six children with what he was able to grow.

“Everything I knew was farming,” he says. “I relied only on farming and only what I could farm during the rainy season [to feed my family],” he says, his eyes downcast. “What I got from there [my gardens] was not enough to feed my family.”

Biram was not alone in the food shortages he and his family faced toward the end of the nine-month dry season. “It was really hard. There was no way to get money when we ran out of food,” he says. But Biram at least had one resource that many other families do not. When he ran out of food, he asked his parents, who are currently living in Dakar, to send them some money so he could buy at least something to eat.

When the World Vision area manager from Tattaguine came to visit the farmers and ask if anyone wanted to participate in new Drip Irrigation program few were interested. Many had participated in a similar project run by a different organization and were not optimistic about the results.

Biram, however, was one of the few farmers who showed interest. He went with the manager to see one of World Vision’s projects in another part of the country. When he came back, he was convinced that this program was different and worked to also excite the other farmers.

“When I came back, I said to those who were reluctant. ‘This is going to work. I’ve seen it,’” he remembers.

He was right. Things are very different now. After one year of participating in and leading the new Drip Irrigation program in Tattaguine Biram is one of the 50 farmers who can testify to the program’s success.

From what Birma was able to grow not only was he able to feed his family, he was also able to sell much of his surplus produce and purchase nonperishable food stocks.

“What I have done with my income is I have bought enough food. I have safety and I have bought enough food for one year,” he says with the smile of a father who is now able to provide for his family across his face.

But, Birma didn’t stop with just buying enough food. He also bought the equivalent of a Senegalese farmer’s savings bonds. “I have also bought two sheep,” he says.

In Senegal farmers see livestock as an investment. They buy them when they are babies. The animals grow, reproduce, and provide some immediate benefits, like milk, and if-and-when the hard times come they can be sold for profit at a higher price then they were bought as they are now adults.

This project has changed the outlook on life for Birma and many of the other 50 farmers.

“The project makes me feel joy. It makes me feel hope,” he says.

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