Social Issue

The economy of the riverside towns of the Niger River and its tributaries is based on the seasonal agricultural economy. When the rainy season begins, there is a great increase in the river flows, causing their overflowing, until a large strip of fertile land is flooded.

At this time, the locals take advantage to plant rice in the flooded areas, as well as other crops in the non-flooded lands. In this way, rice becomes the main base of their diet throughout the year. However, the amount they manage to cultivate does not always allow them to store enough to feed themselves the following year.

One of the causes of this low productivity lies in the fact that the preparation of the land before the rainy season is only done by hand and with manual means, so not enough hectares are cultivated to feed in the long term. Besides, once it starts to rain it is no longer possible to till, and since the start date of the rains is variable, when it comes early it causes a year of famine.

Our Response

In collaboration with Ecos de Mali, which works on comprehensive projects to provide basic infrastructure to the town of Kanso, a tractor has been financed. The objective of the project is to enable the town to plow the fields on a larger surface and with greater quality and speed. The tractor was made available to families in and around Kanso before the rainy season in 2019.

Expected Social Impact

With the new tractor, locals can till more than 5 hectares a day, ensuring a great harvest. Thus, during the last period of rice cultivation in Kanso, last December, production increased between 250% and 400% compared to previous years. This increase will allow its inhabitants to guarantee their basic food for the whole year, as well as selling around 25 tons of husked rice with an approximate value of €70,000.

It is estimated that the number of beneficiaries is the inhabitants of Kanso (between 700 and 800 people) and many families from the nearby towns (Bazana, Tiolá, Kongolokoro, Nuakole, Fincola, and NouKole). In these towns, only some families requested the use of the tractor, so we estimate that between 2,500 and 3,000 people were directly benefited during this first year.

It is calculated that, with good maintenance, the useful life of the purchased tractor will be between 15 and 20 years, this way ensuring the continuity of agricultural productivity increase in the area.