Family Futures

[

] 72

dvancing

ocial

ntegration

and

ntergenerational

olidarity

Since the 1980s, building on these already existing social prac-

tices, development projects have worked to establish women’s

interest groups and facilitate their legal recognition. Their aim

has been to strengthen community solidarity, improve agricul-

ture production and increase and diversify household incomes.

Interest groups are effective instruments to reach women,

inform and train them, thus contributing to improved living

standards. Groups targeting men’s activities also exist, address-

ing livestock rearing and reforestation, but women’s groups

specializing in vegetable production in the fertile bottom

valleys and, to a smaller extent, in dyeing and soap-making,

prevail in the FDH. As a result of the establishment of these

groups, a considerable boost was witnessed in the production of

cabbages, tomatoes, aubergines, chilli peppers, lettuce, spinach

and so on. The increased yield from horticulture allowed

women to enrich the daily family diet, to become more finan-

cially independent and to contribute to school fees, resulting

in increased enrolment rates. Forty-seven out of the 95 families

interviewed participate in interest groups. Thirty-seven per cent

of the women living in the households surveyed are members

of groups, or 49 women compared to 18 men.

In this context, the FDH Integrated Natural Resources

Management Project, executed by the United Nations Food and

Agriculture Organization (FAO), is assisting farmer groups. In

2012 the project trained 19 interest groups in five pilot sites –

including Guetoya – in anaerobic compost preparation and the

manufacture of improved stoves, which can significantly reduce

cooking time and wood consumption. Some 449 people were

trained in improved stove production, out of which 360 were

women, while 244 out of the 306 people trained in compost

preparation were also women. In other sites, the project assisted

farmer groups to fence and secure agricultural fields against

livestock encroachment as well as to improve access to water

resources for dry-season agriculture.

Common price fluctuations of frequently marketed commodities and average seed costs

Source: FAO

Commodity

Local name

Minimum final market price Maximum final market price Average seed cost

Tomato

Tamati

600 Guinean Frank (GF)/kg

1.400 GF/kg

32.500 GF/hg

Aubergine

Giakatou; Kobö kobö

600 GF/kg

800 GF/kg

25.000 GF/hg

Lettuce

Saladi

300 GF/head

1.000 GF/head

60.000 GF/hg

Cabbage

Chou

1.000 GF/head

2.500 GF/head

66.000 GF/hg

* Exchange rate at the time of the survey:

€

1 = 8.890 GF

Image: P. Ceci

A woman watering tomatoes in the market garden of Gaggal, Bantignel