SUPPORTING A SEED GROWERS’ GROUP IN CENTRAL AFRICA
Between July 2016 and August 2017, Première Urgence Internationale teams in the Central African Republic carried out a rural support project for people affected by the conflict there
Between July 2016 and August 2017, Première Urgence Internationale teams in the Central African Republic carried out a rural support project for people affected by the conflict there.
The teams did most of the work in Mambéré Kadeï prefecture in the west of the country, working with Central African farmers and members of a seed growers’ group.
WHAT IS A SEED GROWERS’ GROUP?
A seed growers’ group is a group of several farmers who work together with the aim of:
- Improving the group’s living conditions
- Achieving financial independence
- Building on their skills
From mother seeds of a variety, the seed growers produce a large quantity of seeds to sell or to redistribute.
In the Central African Republic, the groups are regulated by specific laws and are funded by membership fees, subscriptions, donations and agricultural products.
THE SEED GROWERS’ GROUP SECRETARY GENERAL EXPLAINS
Etienne Beri, 47, is the secretary general of the Doung Noug Kpamona seed growers’ group aided by Première Urgence Internationale. This group is based in Ngobolo, 14km from the city of Berbérati, in Mambéré Kadéï prefecture and consists of 25 members, 14 women and 11 men. Etienne Beri’s motto is ‘Unity and work’. Following the crisis, the group’s members received tools and seeds from Première Urgence Internationale, first supplied by the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) then later by the ICRA (Central African Institute for Agronomic Research). Etienne Beri tells us:
‘Première Urgence Internationale has helped us build on our skills and supported us in peanut, maize, sesame and paddy rice production. After harvesting, we sold 25% of the produce to Première Urgence Internationale. They then redistributed some to encourage us to continue the multiplication cycle.’
The money raised has helped each of the group’s members to:
- Pay their children’s school fees
- Buy metal sheets for the roofs of their houses, cassava mills, and rickshaws
- Pay the dowries for their eldest children
- Buy livestock for their smallholdings.
At a group level, 250,000 CFA francs have been saved. This will allow them to buy five pigs, five small goats and five chickens, so that they can set up a community livestock project. A remaining proportion of the savings is ring-fenced for buying seeds for the following season.
IN TWO YEARS, THE AREA’S ACREAGE HAS GROWN FIVE-FOLD
‘We are achieving good returns: 1,500kg of peanuts per hectare and 2,000kg of maize per hectare. This year, thanks to Première Urgence Internationale, we have grown soya for the first time.
‘From now on, hunting, fishing, foraging, small livestock and working in the fields are all available to us. We also have projects: setting up plots of subsistence crops for feeding livestock, building an area for livestock, starting fish farming. To make investment easier, we would like to have access to credit.We are grateful to Première Urgence Internationale for this support for our group. Thanks to the teams, some of us have sent our children to school, and others have built houses from sheet metal.
Our living conditions have improved but we are still isolated. We would like to have a pharmacy and a school in the village. As for the younger people, they have left their mining jobs to work in agriculture, and they have just set up their own group.’
This project is funded by OFDA.
