rice

Hamidou was immensely proud of his rice. As we drove through the village we passed piles upon piles of humungous bags of rice, 60 kilos in each bag. Rice was drying on the ground everywhere on main street, and was hulled by a Chinese-made machine that one could pay to use. He showed us his rice farm, where the harvest was just ending and only a few workers remained cutting the very last of the stalks. During the height of the harvest, everyone in the village had come to help, women, men and children. Hamidou explained he was so busy that he had slept right in his field for three weeks-- he spread a mat on the ground and propped up a mosquito net with sticks stuck in the ground. He didn't have time to go home to go to bed.

The United States had donated rice to Burkina Faso for several decades before abruptly stopping about five years ago. At that point, the government of Burkina asked the Chinese to come and assist them to build a dam that would simulaneously create hydro electric power and also provide water to make rice farming possible. The Chinese did create the dam, and electricity is coming to villages for the first time. Electricity still has not reached Hamidou's village, but is probably not more than a couple years away. Now there are many rice farms where before farming rice was impossible in the dry climate. rice gives much bigger yields than any other crop traditionally farmed here, such as corn, millet, and cassava. With the extra money from selling their corn, the villages can afford less flammable building materials for their homes. Before, fire from the kitchen would often overtakes the thatched roofs. Now many villagers can afford concrete walls and tin roofs, much sturdier, longer-lasting and less flammable than before.