"Africa Will Survive"

Yaya Konaté is not just “any” Development Worker. He is the first south Development Worker on contract with MS Mozambique. Yaya was born in Mali, and because of his education and training in West Africa he has come to Mozambique with a different view of the country from what many Danish DWs may have come with.

By Per Bergholdt Jensen

 There are many differences between Mali and Mozambique, but there are also some similarities. Both countries are rated among the poorest in the world, and the majority of their populations are working within agriculture. Both Mali and Mozambique abandoned their socialist one-party systems in 1992, in order to introduce democracy and free elections.

Yaya Konaté works at the District Directorate for Agriculture and Rural Development in Memba, in Nampula Province. Here Yaya tells about Mali and about his impressions from working in Mozambique.

Could you please tell a bit about yourself?

Well, I was born in 1958 in a small village in Mali called Massakana, in the Mopti Region, about 700 kilometres from the capital. I am a farmer’s son. I started in primary school in 1966, and even at that time education was compulsory, which, however, was not really apparent. 

The administration in the village used to choose two or three 7-year-olds at random, and they were told to go to school. So it was really by pure luck that I got to go to school. I was actually the first in my village, which by the way has about 2500 inhabitants, to get a higher education. 

As such I studied in Mali until I had completed university, and then I went to the then Soviet Union, where I studied agronomy for six years. I then worked for two years back in Mali, before I went to Cabo Verde, where I worked for 17 years. 

So I have now worked 19 years as an agronomist in developing countries. During this period I have worked for various international organisations like FAO, Save the Children – USA, etc. I have also been on missions to other African countries like Senegal, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Morocco, Chad and Niger. So, Mozambique is yet a new experience for me that I am trying to capitalize from.

Please, tell us some more about your own country, Mali. How do you see the differences and the similarities between Mali and Mozambique?

I find that the two countries are alike in many ways. I didn’t feel lost when I came here, because many things are similar to what I lived through during my childhood. 

Obviously, there are differences when we look at the details, but Mozambique is a country, where people basically live on what they produce in the field, just like in Mali. Maybe we use methods that are a bit more sophisticated in Mali, but I can, on the other hand, see that Mozambique has bigger potentials than Mali. 

Even Memba, an area that is considered as having very little potential, would actually have been considered an area with enormous production potentials, if it had been situated in Mali. Only about 10% of the cultivated area in Mali can be said to have as good potentials as those found in Memba. The northern part of Mali is completely covered by desert. Then we have a transitional zone, and only in the south do we have a small area that can be compared to what we have here in Memba.

I also think that the two countries have different historical backgrounds, as Mali has not suffered any recent wars, not even a liberation war. This has meant that rural Mali is more developed compared to what I see here in Memba.

In Mali, the majority of the population works with agriculture or fishing, just like in Mozambique. Have you noticed any similarities or differences in the way that the two peoples are managing their lives or coping with difficulties?

I think that there are small differences, at least if we compare the present situation in the two countries. In Mali, people have a stronger belief in agriculture as a way of life and a way of improving your living conditions than they do here. 

Here in Memba, for example, there is a lack of tools for production, and the local population see to the government institutions and projects for basic tools like hoes and machetes, whereas in Mali this is not so. Any farmer in Mali manages to get these tools for himself, and doesn’t have to ask different organisations to supply them.

This also has its roots, I think, in the historical processes, like wars, that have disturbed rural life and the whole production system here during many years. These may be some of the reasons. Our work here in Memba, however, shows that it is possible to change this attitude. 

When I started working here in April 2004, the farmers asked for machetes or hoes. A thorough analysis of the situation, however, shows that this is not a fundamental problem. Experience has shown that it is possible to solve this problem of lack of tools within 6 months, whereby other problems can then be solved.

What are the major problems and challenges for Africa and for Mozambique?

Illiteracy is a big problem because it complicates the whole learning process. This is a problem that we find in all of Africa, and people feel this in their every-day lives. To me, another problem is the approach that is used to attack the problems that the farmers have and the problems of development in general. 

I don’t think that it is that difficult, but we must work methodically and use the correct approach, dedication, faith and a bit of patience. Doing this, we will actually be able to make use of the knowledge that the farmers possess, and they possess a lot. It is first of all a question of developing the farmers’ self-esteem.

You are saying that agriculture works better in Mali than here in Mozambique. Are there any methods or techniques that the Mozambican farmers could learn from their colleagues in Mali or in other African countries?

Yes, of course. Agriculture in my country is not all that sophisticated, but as the conditions are much harsher in Mali, the farmers have to make a much bigger effort to survive. An example is when I worked in Cabo Verde under extreme conditions. 50% of the farmers work on other people’s land, because there land is privately owned, so they have to pay to use the land. 

These farmers have to pay rent or hand over half of their harvest to the landowner. Here, on the other hand, anyone can gain access to any piece of land he wants to cultivate. To me this is a luxury. Of course, you cannot fell all the bush land in order to cultivate it, but there is room and land for everybody. We don’t need much more, just the will to work. This is a great opportunity.

If we talk about the climatic conditions, we see that in Cabo Verde there is a great celebration when it finally rains. They only get one third of the rainfall that we get here in Memba, but they still produce. There are a number of what I would call basic techniques that can be used here and now – fertilizing, animal traction, cultivation of varieties adapted to coastal areas, building of small dams to catch the rainwater, etc.

When speaking of agricultural methods and techniques, are there things that are done in Mali that are not done in Memba?

Oh, yes! In my area in Mali, we started with animal traction in 1964 or 1965, when I was still a child. The process continued and today there are only very few places that do not use animal traction. In my village, for example, all the families have ploughs, oxen, donkeys or horses, and now-a-days nobody works the land only with a hoe. 

In 1964, I started working with a hoe, and only two years later we started using animal traction. By 1980, all the farmer families in my village cultivated their land using animal traction.

In Memba, by contrast, we don’t find even one example of use of animal traction. And it is not something complicated, it is possible, because here there is more potential than in Mali. I keep saying that if we made an effort to explore the potentials here, Mozambique could become a major exporter of various agricultural produce. 

All the countries that I have worked in, like Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Chad, Niger and Burkina Faso, are countries that are little favoured by nature, and cannot be compared to Mozambique in terms of potential. I have never before worked in such favourable conditions as these. You can actually accomplish a lot from humble beginnings. 

Just like Mali, Memba has problems with water. Do you do anything about this problem in Mali that we could also do here in order to improve the situation?

This is something that I am still discussing with my colleagues and with the farmers themselves, because the whole district suffers with the lack of water. 

They say that the geological conditions in Memba do not favour boreholes and wells to capture subsoil water, but I am not quite sure about this, because I have seen very deep wells here – 10, 20 metres or even more. 

It would seem that they only dig down 2 or 3 metres and then say that there is no water. But they could make wells in the beds of the small rivers, and then cover them up, so that the water runs over them during the rainy season. This should be possible here. In Mali we have wells that are 60 metres deep, and people also collect rainwater from the roofs of their houses.

The difference is that in Mali most houses have roofs made from earth, from which a lot of water can be collected. Another very common technique used in Cabo Verde is to build larger community dams that are made by cementing large low-lying areas on sloping ground that can catch the rainwater, and then building big reservoirs that will hold the water. These reservoirs can then supply whole communities with all the water they need.

What has, in your opinion, been the most difficult part of your work here in Memba, and what has been the most positive?

When someone works methodically you get results and they are almost immediate. There is still a lot to do. We are now practising agriculture in a more professional and productive way. 

What has been difficult for me, is that people here really don’t believe that agriculture is a profession. They don’t feel that they have work when they are working as farmers. We must try to convince them by the way of examples, demonstrations, with practical results that prove to them that if you dedicate yourself to this activity, like is the case with any other profession, it is possible to get good results and largely improve your living conditions. We shall have to work on people’s self-confidence. 

The farmers here do not use manure, but they have a lot of goats, so it is just a question of penning up the goats, at least at night. In Mali we have large-scale cattle ranchers, for example, and the farmers pay these ranchers to have their animals spend the night in their fields, so that they will fertilize the soil with their manure. Here, nobody has thought of this. It is not terribly complicated and the manure from the goats is very good to fertilize the soil.

What would you like to have accomplished here in Memba by the time that you finish your contract here?

Before I leave this place, I would like for as many of the farmers as possible to feel that they have become able to improve their lives through agriculture. I hope that when I leave, they will be using some of the indispensable inputs, like manure. 

I would like to see the first experiments with animal traction made. I know that my stay here will be short, and that I will probably not accomplish a very great deal, but there is really so much to be done. 

Here, I would like to add something in relation to the differences between Mali and Mozambique, and that is that in Mali agriculture and animal breeding complement each other. In Memba we have yet to take advantage of this aspect.

Animal husbandry not only allows you to produce more using manure, but it is also a kind of savings account for farmers in developing countries. The animals can be sold to get you over tough spots and unforeseen expenses. The fact that crop producing and animal husbandry complement each other could give even better results here in Mozambique because the conditions of nature are so excellent for this.

Mali and Mozambique were both colonised and after liberation both adopted socialist systems with one-party states. In 1992 both countries changed systems to become democratic, multi-party states. Do you see any similarities or differences between the two peoples’ attitudes to politics? Is there a difference between Mali and here in the way people are aware of what politics are?

I don’t think that the difference is that big. What we should praise is that the democratic process didn’t become all muddled. Both in Mozambique and in Mali people have become less inhibited. Now they can speak out, they can work without the state institutions complicating things, and I think that the process is running the same way, both in Mali and here. 

The problem with democracy is that the results get limited because of the high level of illiteracy and lack of information. Illiterate people are not as able to take advantage of the possibilities that democracy brings as could be desired, because they don’t get much information.

But are the African governments doing enough to really improve the situation?

Everybody is trying to do all they can, but even so, there are still a lot of illiterate people. These days more kids get to go to school, and they are the generation of the future. Many people from the generation before, however, did not go to school. 

Now there are adult education and literacy programmes, both here and in Mali, but illiteracy keeps being a serious problem. Illiterate people are simply not able to take in all the information, except from the radio. Both in Mali and here, there are several areas, where you cannot watch TV, and the newspapers don’t reach those areas, which limits everything a bit. 

But it is a process that only started recently, and it will continue. The results of the education and literacy programmes in Mozambique are very positive, and the dynamics of this aspect overtake what we see in Mali.

Both Mali and Mozambique are societies, where tradition plays a big role. Do you see any difference in people’s historical or cultural conscience, or in the way that people see their past or their culture?

Yes, I think you could say that we have a more complex culture in Mali, compared to here. But I cannot speak for all of Mozambique, because I still know so little of the country. I am only in contact with the Makua culture, which is also changing. 

The Makua culture is a matriarchal system and in Mali it is patriarchal. As such, everybody in Mali knows exactly who a person is, and to what group or ethnicity he belongs, when you know his name. The name also has a social significance, if a person was a type of traditional leader. From the name you know who is who in Mali. Everybody in Mali knows the name Konaté and knows what ethnic group they belong to, what the Konatés did all through the history of Mali, and it is the same with all the other names.

I also think that we had different colonial systems. The Portuguese colonial system was what we call colonisation of the people, whereas the French colonial system didn’t mix much with the traditional culture. As such, the French exercised less influence in Mali than the Portuguese did in Mozambique. 

Everybody in Mali speaks two languages, and most people even speak three. You will not find one Malian, who does not speak at least one local language, apart from French, which is the official language in Mali. I am not judging, but these are the differences. However, the Malian culture is much closer to Mozambican culture than to European culture or the culture of any other continent. 

You are the first South-DW working for MS-Mozambique, and now MS is in the process of contracting DWs from Brazil. What are, in your opinion, the advantages of contracting DWs from the South instead of from the North?

One of the objectives of MS is to promote intercultural co-operation. With a South-DW this co-operation goes from being bilateral to becoming multilateral. Different people from different countries get together and learn from each other. 

Another advantage could be that the South-DWs live or have been living under similar conditions as those they meet in Mozambique, and may as such understand situations that are characteristic for developing countries more easily. It all depends, however, on the personal sensitivity, capacity and experience that the South-DW possesses.

Where will Africa be in 50 years? What do you think the situation will be like?

I am an optimist. In spite of all the misery, all the misfortune and all the incomprehensible situations we see around us all the time, Africa will survive, and life will improve. Africa will nor sink or disappear. As the historians say: “Africa suffered, but it is surviving”. 

No other continent suffered like Africa. From slavery, which took millions of strong and able hands away from Africa, to colonisation that lasted until only 30 or 40 years ago. I don’t believe that the situation will get worse than it is now, on the contrary, it will improve one way or the other, because Africa will not disappear.

(Translation from Portuguese by Michael Holmes)