I’d like to tell you about my latest trip to Burkina Faso, which brought me together with our project-partners Helvetas and the cotton farmers from the village of Komadougou once again.

Actually, the original plan was to take a private round trip through Ghana and Burkina Faso. But just before departure to Accra, Georg Felber, the project manager on site, asked me if I could introduce our mutual project for a segment on Africa Report, along with presenting our subsidized school cafeteria in Komadougou. Africa Report is broadcast via satellite in Africa and the US, as well as streamed over the web – as soon as we have a broadcast date, we’ll let you know about it here on the blog, of course.

No sooner said than done – from Ouagadougou, I took off with the Helvetas team to Fada N’Gourma in the eastern part of the country, and from there, on to Komadougou. I enjoyed a reunion with Pierre Bangou there. He’s a cotton farmer and president of the local farmer’s association, with whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting twice before on my travels last year.

After the rainy season, the farmers are busy in the cotton fields with the first harvest – nice footage for cameraman Daniel and producer Jeroen, along with, of course, a bundle of new information for them about the specialties of organic farming. What’s easily observed and explained on Pierre Bangou’s fields is the interaction between cotton plants and so-called “trap plants” and the karité or shea tree.

“Trap plants” (in the foreground on the left side of the photo) are planted between the cotton seedlings, where they draw harmful insets and pests away from the cotton crop. Pest management the natural way.

On the right side of the photo, in the background, a shea tree can be seen growing in the middle of the cotton field. The tree’s fruit, which is about the size of a lemon and and has pear-like flesh, is also organically grown thanks to the cotton fields around it, and is enjoyed by the farmers’ families or sold in the local market.

The fruit’s oily pit is dried, out of which sheabutter is extracted. The extract finds many uses in natural soaps and cosmetics, which are enjoying a burgeoning market in Burkina Faso.

After filming in the fields with Daniel and Jeroen, we were off to the school in Komadougou, where we’ve been supporting the school cafeteria for a year now. Around 400 kids are guaranteed a warm lunch. The parents’ association was meeting when we arrived, and was delighted at the spontaneous reunion and a chat about the school kitchen. But more about that next week…

Tags: Burkina Faso, Harvest, organic cotton

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