This week myAgro staff were in Koflani village training farmers there to build seedbeds. Although it is only around 3 hours from Bamako, Koflani is next to a big hill that makes it difficult to reach and cuts off the population from many services and conveniences. MyAgro currently works with 59 farmers there, many of whom are women.
Because rainfall is sparse, plants in this area are sprouted in seedbeds – plant nurseries where seedlings can be cared for before they are big enough to be transplanted. In past years, between 25 and 50% of these plants die during transplanting because their roots have been tangled together and are weak. This means farmers have been loosing a high percentage of their harvest.
MyAgro’s seedbed trainings are designed to reduce that loss by emphasizing 3 key planting techniques.
1. We give each of our farmers a special planting stick – a pole to help them measure out their seedbeds and the spacing between each seed to ensure each young plant has enough room for their roots to grow.
2. We teach our farmers to build up a mound of loose earth to plant their seedlings in, so that their roots do not need to struggle through the hard regular soil and therefore are longer and stronger by the time planting starts.
3. Koflani farmers in the past have only had access to poor quality seed, which means that many did not sprout. For that reason, they are used to planting multiple seeds together, hoping for at least one to take root. Unfortunately, that also leads to roots getting tangled. Now that myAgro is providing high-quality seeds in the area, we also train farmers to plant only one seed per hole.
MyAgro trainers worked with each farmer in Koflani to ensure their seedbeds are off to a good start. Pictured above are two of our female farmers posing with their new seedbed.
In 4 to 6 weeks these seedlings will be ready to be transplanted into special Waffle Beds, a planting technique pioneered by Native Americans to farm in dry areas. Stay tuned to find out how this goes!
