“Farming is now simple and profitable” Lead Female Farmer

Iye Golia, Female lead farmer in the Sierra Leone Agricultural Initiative project on her farm. February 2022. Photo Credit: Abdul Sillah, Save the Children

Iye Golia is one of 35 lead farmers in the Sierra Leone Agricultural Initiative. She is one of only a few female farmers the project trained on agriculture and livelihood. She has been a farmer for over 15 years and is thankful for the new knowledge, skills and ultimate reward given to her by the project.

Before the intervention of the Sierra Leone Agricultural Initiative program, Iye like every other farmer cut and burned bush on her farm to prepare for planting season. The project taught her new eco-friendly methods that also helped fertilize the land.

“I used to brush and burn the bush on my farm. I then sprayed fertilizer on the soil to get it ready. For me, that was okay because it is what I know and what I have done throughout my 15 years of farming, she said

This project has taught me a lot of things. I have learned that I should not burn the bush after brushing. Just as I was told, I now leave the bush on the soil for a period of time and when it rots, it fertilizes the soil underneath making it ready for planting.

"This has helped me greatly. Now, I do not have to gather large piles of bush to burn. Using this method I do not have to spend anything on fertilizers and I get great harvest. Also, I think this grows crops  faster compared to the ‘brush and burn .’

The money I used for fertilizer I now use for my daughter’s schooling. With this method, farming is simple and profitable.

I got all these results when I tested the method on my small farm. Now that I am certain it works, I will be using this method  on my bigger farms.

I am an influential person in this my community and I have used my influence to introduce and convince other farmers, especially female farmers to adopt this method. They have responded well. My husband is a farmer too. He now uses this method and he is always thanking  me for his successful harvest,"  Iye said.