Most recently, in 2021, Biba learned beekeeping, and now has three working hives on her land, which produce about 21 liters of honey every six months. “It is quite exciting to see a brave woman like Biba succeed after putting into practice the techniques and advice she learned from the programs,” says Raimi Suanon, a SILC group facilitator for CRS.
Using the extra profit from sales of her improved cashew crops, she has been able to send each of her sons to technical school-a real source of pride for her. Since then, Biba’s cashew production has more than doubled, increasing from 600 kilograms to more than 1,500 kilograms per year. She also hired additional staff and rented machinery to help plant, grow and cultivate the cashew trees.īiba Saka Koto stands in the middle of her cashew farm in northern Benin. Thanks to the small loans that she took out from the group, Biba was able to plant some cashew trees on a portion of the land left behind by her husband and purchase more land. As a savings group member, she contributed weekly to the group’s savings and was able to easily borrow money on very flexible terms. “Many other cashew producers approach me for advice on good practices or solutions to problems on their farms.”Īs part of the BeninCajù project, Biba was also encouraged to take part in one of CRS’ local Savings and Internal Lending, or SILC, groups. “Today, having trained several producers, I am more known in my village and the surrounding villages,” Biba says.
Pruning cashew trees how to#
She also teaches these farmers how to read and write through literacy groups. She was among the first women to graduate from the program and now trains fellow female farmers on best cashew growing practices. Once certified as ProLeaders, these producers-turned-leaders play an integral role in the development of cashew production in Benin.īiba, who is now treasurer of the Village Cooperative of Cashew Producers of Tamarou, became a ProLeader through the BeninCajù project in 2019. The ultimate goal of the project is to equip motivated farmers with expert skills so they can train other farmers in their community. During a four-month certification program, which includes hands-on training sessions, coaching, and skills assessment, participants like Biba learn how to improve both the quantity and quality of their cashew crops. These include how to measure cashew nut quality, post-harvest handling, and group sales. Using an innovative approach called ProLeader that CRS developed, BeninCajù helps develop and promote local expertise by training farmers-including women-on best agriculture practices. BeninCajù is implemented by Catholic Relief Services as a sub-awardee to TechnoServe, and in partnership with the Territorial Agricultural Development Agency, Pole 4, Benin’s Ministry of Agriculture, and the National Federation of Cashew Producers, across 12 regions in Benin. Department of Agriculture-funded ‘BeninCajù’, or Benin Cashew, project. In 2016, Biba was invited to participate in the production component of the U.S. Over the years, she was eventually able to purchase the land. “I did a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but it was never enough.” “When my husband died, I tried everything,” she recalls. For many years, she did what she could to get by.
Previously, she and her husband grew cotton on his land, to support their family’s needs.īiba wanted to continue to farm, but local culture made it difficult for her to inherit her husband’s land or to attend agriculture trainings to learn how to increase her yields. A seamstress by trade, she says there was not enough demand for business in their small village, making it difficult to feed her children and pay school fees. Biba was suddenly alone in caring for their four young sons. Biba Saka Koto was a participant in CRS’ BeninCaju project, a member of a local savings group and trained as a ProLeader.īiba is among a small but growing number of women in Benin who own farmland, grow and sell cashews.īiba’s story, she says, began in 2004, after her husband passed away.
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