” Vegetable farming and water problems “, Banzana (Mali) – April 2021

Interview with Famakan Koné

“Nowadays, there is no more rain, so our crops are lost. We love farming but if the harvest is not good because of the drought, it is discouraging.

Rain is no longer enough, so we grow crops for our daily needs in order to survive the hard times, such as sweet potatoes, banankou, fruit trees and market vegetables.

When these crops succeed, it helps a lot. If we manage to make such actions sustainable, it will reduce the difficulty in the country. Even when the winter is not satisfactory, crops such as watermelon, maize, banankou, sweet potato and bean leaves help us to survive. 

This is the problem we have here, without rain the crops don’t do well. These are the things we grow, and from the end of the rainy season to January we manage with them. That’s what we do here but we still suffer from the lack of water.”

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“Well, these crops (watermelon, sweet potato, groundnut, okra, maize), if I mentioned them, it’s not that they are better than the other crops, no, but in my field, where we are now for this interview, these are the crops that are doing better and that’s why they were mentioned. It’s a sandy area, whether you grow it in the winter or in the dry season, if there is water to water it, you can benefit from it, so okra, maize, watermelon, sweet potato, groundnut, they do well. To answer your question, these are the crops that do well in my field, even during the dry season if there is water.

I thank you.”