Two training courses, two targets, one objective

Developing the capacities of youth and women to accelerate their economic empowerment is a top priority in 2SCALE partnerships. But how is this being done?

In Mali, namely in Konodimini, the partnership based on the enhancement of the rice sector materializes its actions vis-à-vis young farmers and women parboilers, involved in this value chain.

The Siguida Yelen partnership in Konodimini aims to increase the quality of locally produced rice and bring it within reach of low-income consumers in places such as local Malian markets. It also seeks to involve 7,000 women and youth in the entire production, processing and marketing process. With the intention to move forward to achieve these objectives, two training courses were held. One on good practices in pesticide use for young people and the second one on improved parboiling techniques for women.

Discovering new techniques and modern parboiling equipment

Malian parboiled rice faces enormous challenges compared to imported parboiled rice. The main bottlenecks for the development of this activity are mainly, access to quality paddy rice, the lack of suitable modern equipment as well as the high cost of the parboiling activity. Historically, parboiling in Konodimini and surrounding villages has always been a traditional knowledge passed on from generation to generation (mother to daughter). The female parboilers have always used traditional equipment. However, the implementation of good practices and especially the use of modern and adequate equipment can allow parboilers to better practice this activity, offer parboiled rice of better quality to consumers, and contribute to improving the incomes and living conditions of women in this region.

Faced with the growing demand for parboiled rice and taking into account the above arguments, Siguida Yelen organized this first capacity training for 30 parboiler women, with the aim of promoting parboiled rice and developing their capacities so that they could offer higher quality parboiled rice. This training will be followed by a series of cascading training to reach a total of 128 women from different women's cooperatives.

Knowledge and application of pesticides

Good agricultural practices in the management and use of pesticides can increase agricultural production and productivity. However, lack of knowledge on how to use them, inadequacies shared on application of registered pesticides lead farmers to purchase and use these products in a not controlled manner, and ignoring the consequences that this may cause to their health. In addition, there is also a lack of human and financial resources for appropriate guidance and training.

This second training session was aimed at young people and focused on transmitting knowledge about the varieties and proper use of pesticides, the importance of wearing protective equipment such as suits, the phytosanitary treatment techniques, the handling of packaging and the precautions to be taken in case problems occur during its use and application.

To facilitate understanding, practical sessions were held at all stages of pesticides.

This initial training involved 40 young farmers on good practices in the use and management of pesticides. These young people in turn will organise the restitution training, to allow a larger number of farmers to benefit from the acquired knowledge.

One objective

The common goal of these two training courses towards women and youth is to improve the knowledge of smallholder farmers involved in the Siguida Yeelen rice partnership on good agricultural practices for an efficient and sustainable agriculture.