More yield with fewer inputs: Experiences from West Africa

In December 2018, Mamadou Pierre Nabié, father of 4, participated in an ECHO West Africa training on Foundations for Farming, compost, and bioliquid fertilizer. He claims that this training was a “gold mine” of information that has significantly impacted his life personally and his community in Kpai, Burkina Faso. Nabié shared, “As I have applied this new knowledge, my production level has literally tripled.” On the 1.5 hectares (4 acres) he was given to farm, he used to spend 125,000 CFA (250 USD) on average for plowing and chemical fertilizers. This usually produced about 600 kg of corn (about 6 months’ worth of food). After applying what he learned in the training during his first year, he was able to produce 1,800 kg of corn on the same farmland (or 18 months’ worth of food)– with less than 10,000 CFA (20 USD) in expenditures. The following year, the landowners, took away his land and gave him another piece of land that was undesirable to farm. That year, he produced 1,200 kg of corn. This year, due to the high costs of chemical fertilizers, many community members have come to him requesting training in making compost and bioliquid fertilizer.