Adama Dialla
12°37'14"N,1°13'25"W
Boulba, Ziniaré, Oubritenga province, Burkina Faso
Adama Dialla grows corn, sorghum, okra, bissap, sweet potatoes and peanut over three hectares. The different plots of land are also planted with fruit trees and leguminous plants that serve as livestock fodder such as pigeon peas. Raising chickens and sheep offers an income from the sale of the animals and makes it possible to produce aerobic compost that contributes to the fertile balance of the farm. As for many Burkinabé farming families, most of the production is consumed and the surplus sold at market.
© madd-bordeaux
Since beginning to farm in 1990, Adama’s farming practices have changed a great deal, particularly thanks to her meeting in 2016 with the local association AIDMR, a Terre & Humanisme partner, which encouraged her to create an “agroecological island”: managing soil fertility, creating and using different types of composting, combining and rotating crops, rationally managing water etc. This island presents a diversified production system of integrated crop and livestock farming, in which trees take pride of place. It is at once a green oasis, a family living space, an intensive production area that varies throughout the year, and a medium for experimenting with, demonstrating and sharing agroecological practices.
A pioneer in spreading agroecology, for over 25 years, Terre & Humanisme has been supporting those engaged in the transition to farmer agroecology in France, West Africa, North Africa and the Middle East.
Ears of white corn, millet, white sorghum and red sorghum
© madd-bordeaux
Dabas, traditional tools used at the farm of Adama Dialla © madd-bordeaux
Illustration Atelier CTJM, Un îlot agroécologique © Atelier CTJM