At a young age, Ma\u00efmouna Coulibaly watched her mother tilling the fields, growing a little bit of everything \u2014 millet, sorghum, maize, rice and peanuts \u2014 to support and nourish the family, often coming up with only a basketful of grains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n At a young age, Ma\u00efmouna Coulibaly watched her mother tilling the fields, growing a little bit of everything \u2014 millet, sorghum, maize, rice and peanuts \u2014 to support and nourish the family, often coming up with only a basketful of grains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ma\u00efmouna\u2019s mother is among the 80 percent of the Malian population who rely on subsistence farming as their main source of food and income. They all face this quadruple-edged sword of drought, conflict, dearth of rudimentary infrastructure, and overall lack of government presence in many parts of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the reality faced by 3.83 million people who are food insecure in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FROM MALI TO IOWA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n From the family\u2019s farm cradle in rural Mali, the nascent hearth of marriage led Ma\u00efmouna and her husband Ntji to Iowa where he had won a USAID scholarship to study agronomy. The start of two dynamic partnerships was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The otherwise precocious and curious young bride found herself amid the cornfields of Iowa, dumbfounded by unending fields of maize, so different from what she was used to seeing back in her motherland\u2019s plots. Her eagerness got her into those fields \u2014 picking, shucking, sorting and packaging maize \u2014 and learning English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She witnessed a eureka moment when in a grocery store, she saw rows and rows of neatly stacked, beautifully branded and packaged, high-quality seeds of corn \u2014 the very corn she was processing in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFrom the maize fields to the grocery store, that\u2019s what I will do for Mali!\u201d proclaimed Ma\u00efmouna to her husband.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n T\u00d4 TO THE RESCUE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Upon their return to Mali in the late 1980s, she was often told that Malian farmers would not pay to buy seeds. Despite the dissuasion, she put her new English skills to use to garner a job with the Cooperative League of the United States of America, while continuing to ferment her idea of creating a seed company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fifteen years later, when that cooperative closed its doors in 2003, Ma\u00efmouna knew the time was now or never. She bought all of their office furniture to furnish her newly formed company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFaso Kaba y\u00e9r\u00e9 y\u00e9r\u00e9 donw wa!\u201d exclaimed a customer when he understood the value of high quality, certified seeds grown from the Malian earth, not imported.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And thus, \u201cFaso Kaba\u201d Seed Company was born, the \u201cmaize from the motherland\u201d in the local language Bamanakan. She opened her shop in 2003 selling maize seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Soon, she discovered that requests for seeds were in demand but the supply was not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, struggling to keep her \u201cmom and pop\u201d shop open, enter Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, headed by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was the holy month of Ramadan and fasting meant that it was hard to get a good Malian dish in town when the Alliance representative arrived to conduct their first study. Ma\u00efmouna offered to prepare \u201ct\u00f4,\u201d a national dish made of maize flour. With bellies full and encouragement buoyed, Ma\u00efmouna decided to keep her shop open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ma\u00efmouna\u2019s efforts paid off. In 2007, she received a grant from Alliance to boost her seed processing efficiency to the next level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She was determined to be the nucleus of an inclusive partnership, public and private, by bridging cash-strapped subsistence farmers with the world of seed research, alongside smart technology and entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2010, the varying experiences came full circle. USAID, through its Feed the Future program, supported Ma\u00efmouna\u2019s efforts through capacity building training for Faso Kaba staff which improved its seed processing quality, output and efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACCOLADES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Her initial visions in Iowa of supplying Malian farmers with good quality seeds, stacked neatly in her own shop, had come to fruition. More than 20 years later, she has proven that woman-led entrepreneurship can reduce poverty, eradicate famine, improve nutrition and increase economic might, contributing to a resilient population, one seed at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the support of USAID, her company boasts over 30 staff members \u2014 half of whom are women \u2014 along with roughly 80 field laborers depending on the season; 150 seed distributors, a modern office; a processing plant; and demonstration plots where scientists and farmers alike converge to improve seed quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To date, over 1 million tons of various hybrids and varieties have been sold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Faso Kaba is the largest seed provider in Mali, while making a mark beyond Malian borders. Grains were transported to Syria, Senegal, Ghana, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire and neighboring countries during the Ebola crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AMAZING GRAINS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Faso Kaba has diversified and continues to experiment to serve the needs of its clientele. Okra, millet, sorghum, peanuts, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, watermelon and many others line the shelves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her husband Ntji continues to be by her side, providing scientific knowledge, technical linkages, business advice and overall encouragement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AND THE WINNER IS\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ma\u00efmouna was one of 2017\u2019s premier African Food Prize winners. She and Ruth Oniang\u2019o of Kenya were selected out of 643 candidates, with a $100,000 prize amount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She plans to reinvest right back into Faso Kaba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n IT\u2019S A FAMILY AFFAIR <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ma\u00efmouna and Ntji exemplify what USAID hopes to see in all its programming \u2014 people moving beyond the need for assistance. The initial \u201cseeds\u201d have grown a partnership that began more than 30 years ago and has borne fruit \u2014 the positive effects of being empowered in belly, mind and heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe is the pillar of our family, the pillar of our motherland,\u201d said her husband.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Originally published on: https:\/\/usaidmali.exposure.co\/maize-from-the-motherland<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ma\u00efmouna\u2019s mother is among the 80 percent of the Malian population who rely on subsistence farming as their main source of food and income. They all face this quadruple-edged sword of drought, conflict, dearth of rudimentary infrastructure, and overall lack of government presence in many parts of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the reality faced by 3.83 million people who are food insecure in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n FROM MALI TO IOWA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n From the family\u2019s farm cradle in rural Mali, the nascent hearth of marriage led Ma\u00efmouna and her husband Ntji to Iowa where he had won a USAID scholarship to study agronomy. The start of two dynamic partnerships was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The otherwise precocious and curious young bride found herself amid the cornfields of Iowa, dumbfounded by unending fields of maize, so different from what she was used to seeing back in her motherland\u2019s plots. Her eagerness got her into those fields \u2014 picking, shucking, sorting and packaging maize \u2014 and learning English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She witnessed a eureka moment when in a grocery store, she saw rows and rows of neatly stacked, beautifully branded and packaged, high-quality seeds of corn \u2014 the very corn she was processing in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFrom the maize fields to the grocery store, that\u2019s what I will do for Mali!\u201d proclaimed Ma\u00efmouna to her husband.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n T\u00d4 TO THE RESCUE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Upon their return to Mali in the late 1980s, she was often told that Malian farmers would not pay to buy seeds. Despite the dissuasion, she put her new English skills to use to garner a job with the Cooperative League of the United States of America, while continuing to ferment her idea of creating a seed company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fifteen years later, when that cooperative closed its doors in 2003, Ma\u00efmouna knew the time was now or never. She bought all of their office furniture to furnish her newly formed company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFaso Kaba y\u00e9r\u00e9 y\u00e9r\u00e9 donw wa!\u201d exclaimed a customer when he understood the value of high quality, certified seeds grown from the Malian earth, not imported.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And thus, \u201cFaso Kaba\u201d Seed Company was born, the \u201cmaize from the motherland\u201d in the local language Bamanakan. She opened her shop in 2003 selling maize seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Soon, she discovered that requests for seeds were in demand but the supply was not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, struggling to keep her \u201cmom and pop\u201d shop open, enter Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, headed by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was the holy month of Ramadan and fasting meant that it was hard to get a good Malian dish in town when the Alliance representative arrived to conduct their first study. Ma\u00efmouna offered to prepare \u201ct\u00f4,\u201d a national dish made of maize flour. With bellies full and encouragement buoyed, Ma\u00efmouna decided to keep her shop open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ma\u00efmouna\u2019s efforts paid off. In 2007, she received a grant from Alliance to boost her seed processing efficiency to the next level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She was determined to be the nucleus of an inclusive partnership, public and private, by bridging cash-strapped subsistence farmers with the world of seed research, alongside smart technology and entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2010, the varying experiences came full circle. USAID, through its Feed the Future program, supported Ma\u00efmouna\u2019s efforts through capacity building training for Faso Kaba staff which improved its seed processing quality, output and efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACCOLADES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Her initial visions in Iowa of supplying Malian farmers with good quality seeds, stacked neatly in her own shop, had come to fruition. More than 20 years later, she has proven that woman-led entrepreneurship can reduce poverty, eradicate famine, improve nutrition and increase economic might, contributing to a resilient population, one seed at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the support of USAID, her company boasts over 30 staff members \u2014 half of whom are women \u2014 along with roughly 80 field laborers depending on the season; 150 seed distributors, a modern office; a processing plant; and demonstration plots where scientists and farmers alike converge to improve seed quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To date, over 1 million tons of various hybrids and varieties have been sold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Faso Kaba is the largest seed provider in Mali, while making a mark beyond Malian borders. Grains were transported to Syria, Senegal, Ghana, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire and neighboring countries during the Ebola crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AMAZING GRAINS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Faso Kaba has diversified and continues to experiment to serve the needs of its clientele. Okra, millet, sorghum, peanuts, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, watermelon and many others line the shelves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her husband Ntji continues to be by her side, providing scientific knowledge, technical linkages, business advice and overall encouragement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AND THE WINNER IS\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ma\u00efmouna was one of 2017\u2019s premier African Food Prize winners. She and Ruth Oniang\u2019o of Kenya were selected out of 643 candidates, with a $100,000 prize amount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She plans to reinvest right back into Faso Kaba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n IT\u2019S A FAMILY AFFAIR <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ma\u00efmouna and Ntji exemplify what USAID hopes to see in all its programming \u2014 people moving beyond the need for assistance. The initial \u201cseeds\u201d have grown a partnership that began more than 30 years ago and has borne fruit \u2014 the positive effects of being empowered in belly, mind and heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe is the pillar of our family, the pillar of our motherland,\u201d said her husband.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Originally published on: https:\/\/usaidmali.exposure.co\/maize-from-the-motherland<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At a young age, Ma\u00efmouna Coulibaly watched her mother tilling the fields, growing a little bit of everything \u2014 millet, sorghum, maize, rice and peanuts \u2014 to support and nourish Read More <\/a><\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":444,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wds_primary_category":0},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africafoodprize.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africafoodprize.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africafoodprize.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africafoodprize.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africafoodprize.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/africafoodprize.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africafoodprize.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africafoodprize.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africafoodprize.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africafoodprize.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}