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August 10, 2004
English farmers meet Fulani farmers
Back in March, I was in Gorom-Gorom for a weekend, visiting friends. It was Jour des Femmes (National Women's Day), and everyone was eagerly anticipating the women's football match which would take place that afternoon in Markoy, just down the road.
"Be puddi waddude motere, agora ebe pi'a ballon," commented old Diallo Bello despairingly. (First they start riding mopeds, now they are playing football).
The other hot-topic for discussion was tomorrow's visit of ten English cattle-herders.
"To take part in Jour des Femmes?" I asked.
"Of course not," said Bello. "They are coming to see how we herd, and to tell us how they herd."
I was driving down to Ouagadougou the next day, and on the road I passed three gleaming 4x4s, heading north towards Gorom-Gorom...
This morning I came across an article on the Christian Aid website which desribes the visit of the English farmers to the north of Burkina Faso. It was four farmers, not ten (the others in the group were interpreters, camaramen etc) but basically Bello had been correct - these farmers had come to see the challenges faced by their sahelian counterparts and to share their own experiences (including the terrible Foot and Mouth outbreak in 2001).
You can read the article here:
UK farmers experience harsh realities of farming in west Africa
And here are short pieces by each of the four farmers. These are really insightful and worth reading.
Posted by sahelsteve at August 10, 2004 09:22 AM