It’s one thing to increase the crop yields of vulnerable, smallholder farmers in a climate-challenged corner of the world. Lots of organizations are working – and bearing fruit – in this capacity. It’s another thing entirely to transform these smallholder farmers into major agricultural producers, connect them with buyers, and strengthen the value chain of a commodity for an entire region.
In my most recent assignment with Lutheran World Relief, I was commissioned to take a brief look at the SESAME project, a US Department of Agriculture-funded initiative that works not only to increase the quality and volume of sesame farmers in Burkina Faso, but also to strengthen the cooperative system in sesame growing regions of the county. By working in cooperatives, everyday farmers can negotiate higher prices, streamline quality, access inputs and enhance overall market conditions, all of which create a sustainable, private-sector led framework for the sale and export of sesame.
Smallholder farmer Anriette Dakuyo works in her family’s sesame fields while carrying her baby girl, Marina, on her back in Mouhoun Province, Burkina Faso.
“Sesame was not big business here [in the past], but now people are starting to realize it can be very lucrative,” says sesame trade Emmanuel Kadeba. “The difference is the quality. When it looks like this I can sell it to my partners.”
Rachelle Yanfoni winnows freshly-harvested sesame grain on her family’s farm in Mouhoun Province, Burkina Faso.
I visited Burkina Faso twice in the span of three months in order to get a more comprehensive picture of the cultivation, harvest and post-harvest process of sesame. I found it fascinating to witness the extraction of the sesame grains from their capsules through the shaking process, but also quite challenging to capture in both video and stills something so miniscule.
Freshly-harvested sesame grain is sifted on a farm in Mouhoun Province, Burkina Faso.Sesame grain is extracted from the stalk when it is fully dried, then shaken out onto tarpaulin sheets as seen here in Mouhoun Province, Burkina Faso. As part of the SESAME project, farmers received tarpaulin sheets like the one seen here to help them process their harvest and keep it from contamination.Faso Deme sesame cooperative member, Mamadou Koita, measures a handful of freshly-harvested sesame grain at a warehouse constructed by Lutheran World Relief in Mouhoun Province, Burkina Faso.Idrin Dakuyo (R) and Tansi Sama (L) weigh sacks of freshly-harvested sesame at their cooperative’s bulking center in Mouhoun Province, Burkina Faso. Cooperative members working with the SESAME project are able to receive better prices for their harvest through increased quality and selling in bulk.Sama Isabel, (52, L) a successful sesame farmer in Mouhoun Province, Burkina Faso, has benefitted from training and support from Bleise Tianhoun (R), her Producer Enterprise Agent under the SESAME project.Acres and acres of quality sesame grow in fields belonging to Komate Lodi (not pictured) in Mouhoun Province, Burkina Faso. As a result of his hard work and the trainings he receives through the SESAME project, he’s expecting a bumper crop this year.Sory Marcelin (43, L) and his brother, Sory Bokuy (46, R) plow their sesame field in Mouhoun Province, Burkina Faso. Their family has seen increased income as a result of training and access to markets they’ve received through the SESAME project.Producer Dakuyo Foroza (54) basks in his sesame fields in Mouhoun Province, Burkina Faso, where the SESAME project works to train farmers like him to increase the quality and quantity of the sesame they grow and access buyers and exporters of their crop.Tirakay Léa (26) farms in her family’s sesame fields in Mouhoun Province, Burkina Faso, where the SESAME project works to train farmers to increase the quality and quantity of the sesame they grow and access buyers and exporters of their crop. SESAME Project – Burkina Faso, West Africa.Sesame pods grow on stalks that are harvested and left to dry before being shaken in the extraction process.
