A rainbow painted on the last frontier
A rainbow painted on the last frontierA group of progressive farmers of Gobery village in southern Niger have demonstrated the resilience of agriculture in Sahelian Africa by adopting a simple natural resource management technology. "Only our village has any semblance of agriculture this year. While most other villages in the vicinity have their crops withering unable to bear the searing heat, only our crops have stood the onslaught of nature. We are grateful to this on-farm project and the scientists," said Mr Badara Tala, the 85-year-old Chief of Gobery Goubey, a dusty hamlet 120 km east of Niamey in Niger.
"We are happy to know that our efforts to help you here at Gobery village are now bearing fruit. Your village is part of a pioneering research effort in natural resource management. The whole world is watching us. It is your achievement. Your hard work and cooperation made it possible," said Dr Amit H Roy, President and Chief Executive Officer of the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), a public, international, nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing agricultural productivity and food production in the tropics and subtropics through the appropriate use of plant nutrients in sustainable crop production systems. "Do let us know what more we can do for you in uplifting life in the West African semi-arid tropics," he added. Even before the interpreter could finish, the crowd got the message and rose with thunderous applause. Their transparent expression of happiness filled the air. This underscored the strengthening of a 13-year old partnership between farmers and scientists in an IFDC-ICRISAT project. A partnership made possible through the help of agricultural scientists of the Institut National de Recherches Agronomiques du Niger (INRAN), a national government agency. Only 35 farmers were part of the IFDC-ICRISAT INRAN on-farm trials in this village. Surprisingly, almost 300 were present in that meeting. All of them wanting to be part of this project that aims at enhancing farm productivity and improving the quality of life for farmers in Sahelian Africa.
He is a progressive farmer. He knows the importance of soil nutrition. His close interaction with scientists and agricultural extension personnel has given him many opportunities to experiment with several inputs on his 3.5-hectare holding. He has on-farm trials demonstrating the various treatments and controls, the proper cropping pattern, as well as various improved and local varieties of pearl millet. "You can see the grain heads for yourselves, and that is the index of the final yield. Yes, the insects will of course, land on my crop. Where else will they go to feed? In other fields there is nothing for them to feed on" he pointed out. His major constraint is that the fertilizers are either not available or too expensive. The majority of farmers in the village knew the importance of phosphorus nutrition. They follow other such productivity-enhancing techniques as crop rotation and mulching with pearl millet straw to sustain the yield gains. At Gobery, farmers adopting these practices increased their yields up to two-and-a-half times.
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His voice trembled, and emotion swelled as he spoke. In a moving gesture he
bowed before the visitors. The entire village assembled under a sprawling neem tree on
that Saturday morning stood behind him in expressing their gratitude. It was a solemn and
austere thanksgiving function organized by the villagers. " We owe a great deal to
you sir," the villagers said in unison. Clapping of hands and the beating of
traditional drum punctuated the message of their Chief. 
"For us, what we harvest is what we believe. This promising crop of
millet even in this drought year proves one point. Just look at my crop, if I get one
round of rainfall I am assured of 1.5 tonnes per hectare of harvest. If not, at least 600
kg per hectare will be there. Good enough, unlike others who will harvest none at all.
Soil fertility is the key to our success. We fondly hope we will be able to sustain
it," said Mr Dudu Garba, a 48-year-old farmer from the same village. 
