In a tandem effort with the founder and director of the AG group, a renowned Beninese rice farmer Pascal Gbenou, Mitchell is tasked with raising funds for a new solar-powered water pump that will irrigate up to 10 new acres of land for a minimum of 10 years.
To illustrate that expansion, Mitchell described 10 acres as enough space to cultivate up to 250,000 pounds of potatoes, though the Farm School’s staple crops are vegetables, fruits and rice.
“To do this, we need to raise $10,000 through Peace Corps’ community-funded grant program,” Mitchell said. “With this we will be able to build the solar-powered pump and grow and sell more vegetables. In turn, this will improve educational facilities for Farm School apprentices, teaching them the skills they need to continue farming in a time when it is very popular to move to the city.”
One of the Farm School’s goals is to turn the tide on what Mitchell described as a “rural exodus.” The goal of the farm movement, she said, is to motivate the inhabitants of the village to take charge of their own destiny and actively promote the development of Kakanitchoé.
The solar-powered irrigation project recently commenced with the “forage” — drilling for water — and will continue with building the well, running pipes to water tanks on raised towers, and expanding the scale of Gbenou’s existing, though much smaller, solar panel system, which will power the new irrigation pumps, Mitchell said.
Gbenou has become one of the country’s most notable advocates for agricultural entrepreneurship, making a name for himself in his efforts to bring better yields to rice farmers by utilizing the principles of System of Rice Intensification, according to the Farm School’s fundraising site.
Mitchell described the system as educating rice farmers on proper crop spacing, transplanting young seedlings, and the use of organic fertilizer.
Gbenou — a source of inspiration to Mitchell — completed his doctorate in 2013 at the University of Abomey-Calavi in Benin, focusing his dissertation on how system methods can help accomplish food security for Benin, and is also the founder of the Consultation Council of Rice Producers in Benin — an organization comprising farm groups from 13 West African countries.
He serves as president of the West African Confederation of Rice Producers Association, which he also founded.
“He’s one of the most amazing farmers I’ve met in Benin,” Mitchell said. “He’s very progressive and has become a real mover and shaker for the country — a really amazing person.”
Source: santacruzsentinel
