Planting Good Ideas

Every day Jean Claude Mouditou leads thirty men and women, equipped with machetes and tall rubber boots, into the fields of the recently constructed Bethesada Community Development Agriculture Training Centre in Hévié, Benin. 

Jean Claude is running a three-month agriculture training programme, “Food for Life,” which teaches farmers organic, agricultural skills in nutrition and crop production. 

“We begin the day at 8 a.m. in the morning,” said Mouditou.  “First, we learn a lesson in the classroom.  Then, we go to the farm to practically apply what we learned.  Usually we work in the fields until 5:30 p.m.”

In Benin, many farmers practice misguided agricultural techniques, which decrease crop production.  The inability to adequately produce food largely contributes to poverty and diminished health, a problem which has been specifically targeted by the government.   

“Our system is very different from the traditional practices of farmers.  Farmers think you need to burn the land and use harmful insecticides.  But with our system, we are teaching farmers to use the material and principles.  These techniques have not been seen before,” explained Mouditou. 

Both students and community members have been surprised by the efficiency of Mouditou’s agricultural principles.

“Using local seed and organic farming principles, we grew corn in six weeks.  Normally, it takes farmers 3 to 4 months to grow a crop.  The corn we grew was much larger than the local farmers.  It was a very big surprise to the community.  Never before have they seen anything like what we are doing,” said Mouditou. 

Both the “Food For Life” programme and the training centre are the result of a partnership between Mercy Ships and Bethesda, a Benin-based NGO (non-governmental organisation).  Bethesda will oversee the continued use of the training centre for agricultural development when Mercy Ships leaves Benin.    

Thirty farmers are currently enrolled.  Seven have been training with Jean Claude throughout the past six months to become agriculture trainers.   In conjunction with Bethesda, the trainers will conduct “Food for Life” programmes after Mercy Ships leaves Benin. 

“The seven trainers are doing most of the teaching now.  At the moment, everything is going very well.  I am here to support and answer any questions they have,” said Mouditou. “I am so excited to see those I trained are able to lead the programme and train others.”

Each farmer involved has made a commitment to share their newly acquired knowledge with other farmers, creating a lasting impact on Benin’s agricultural community. 

One of the students spoke for the group saying, “Thank you, Mercy Ships, for giving us the opportunity to attend this training for free.  We are determined to finish this training, no matter what difficulties we face, to help our country to reduce the problem of poverty.”