SATINEBOUGOU
(Mali) (AFP) - In a strikingly green corner of Mali, one man is leading an
agricultural revolution, using organic farming methods to get the most out of
the land -- and pass his techniques on to others in west Africa.
Oumar
Diabate has established a reputation for raising chemical-free vegetables,
fruit and medicinal plants at his small farm about 30 kilometres (19 miles)
from the capital Bamako.
In a vast
country where two-thirds of the terrain is desert, Diabate, 47, lovingly tends
his two hectares (five acres), nudging tomatoes, courgettes, lettuce and
beetroot from the ochre soil.
He and five
permanent employees also grow fruit trees and plants required for traditional
medicine, while dairy cows and sheep graze nearby and chickens fuss about in a
separate enclosure.
Diabate
acquired the small farm in the village of Satinebougou in 2005 after years away
from home doing his veterinary training in Moscow.
A big man
with a boxer's build, Diabate was inspired by French environmentalist and
farmer Pierre Rabhi, the pioneer of techniques known as
"agro-ecology".
By mixing
Rahbi's methods with lessons from his studies in Russia, Diabate was soon bucking
the trend in a country where agriculture usually means traditional subsistence
farming with low yields.
'Even
grass wouldn't grow'
"The
land that I had bought here was very poor. Even grass wouldn't grow,"
Diabate recalls, but he had more than the soil to win over, because local
peasants didn't believe in his project.
"At
the beginning it wasn't easy to show other farmers this, they thought I had
something, a magic potion that I was using," he said.
Diabate
rejects using chemical fertilisers and pesticides on his farm -- a widespread
practice in Mali -- instead he sticks to compost and manure, while rotating his
crops to maintain the nutrients in the soil.
He feeds
weeds to his cows and in addition to their manure, a natural fertiliser, he
cultivates a range of special plants that help ward off potentially damaging
insects, worms and parasites, in place of insecticides.
"Marigolds
attract destructive insects to their flowers," Diabate explains.
"It
means that the tomatoes can grow without being bothered. At the same time the
marigolds produce a nematicidal agent in the ground and so repel parasites that
were attacking the roots of the tomato plant."
Huts for
trainees
Tapping his
veterinary background, Diabate has experimented with cross-breeding cows. He
mixed local varieties with two European types, black-and-white Holsteins and
red-and-white Montbeliards, to produce what he says is an animal more resistant
to disease.
"This
cross also allowed us to boost milk production," he adds. "Instead of
two to three litres (quarts) per cow, we have 10 to 15 litres per cow per
day."
Diabate now
collects about 30 baskets of fruit and vegetables a week for direct sale to
consumers, just as other organic farmer increasingly do in Europe and the
United States.
The aim is
to support small farms and avoid losing money to middlemen. So far, Diabate has
29 regular clients in Bamako and the surrounding area, to whom he delivers once
a week, on Saturdays or Tuesdays.
The
baskets, prepared by Diabate's wife Fatoumata, cost 5,000 FCFA (about 7.6
euros, $9.4). Diabate said he takes home 40 percent of this -- a critical
return in a nation where the average monthly salary is 50,000 FCFA (76 euros,
$94).
But his
other goal is to share his know-how in a land-locked nation that ranks among
the world's 25 poorest and where 80 percent of the labour force works in
agriculture -- mainly small-scale traditional or subsistence farms.
Diabate has
built several huts and a classroom and since 2007 has welcomed trainees from
inside Mali and abroad, such as Cheikh Ndour from Senegal who came to learn his
techniques last year.
Government reforms
The
pioneering farmer has established a Sahelian Centre for Training and Research
in Agro-Ecology (CSFRA), backed by a little financial support from Urgenci, a
non-governmental organisation promoting community-supported agriculture around
the world.
Diabate has
a place on Urgenci's committee and has joined forces with another Malian
activist, Ousmane Camara, to promote agro-ecology and sustainable development.
Diabate's
methods have aroused some interest, but organic production is still marginal in
Mali, where subsistence farming accounts for nearly 40 percent of GDP.
Authorities
have slowly introduced reforms over the past few decades and last year
announced they want to make the country a regional agricultural force by 2017,
in a document that resonated with some of Diabate's principles.
The goal,
an official statement said, is to create jobs and revenue "following the
logic of sustainable development and respect for the environment".
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