Tondtenga – organic farm and boarding school

Tondtenga – organic farm and boarding school

In 2005 in Balkouy an agricultural boarding school was inaugurated, attracting a great deal of attention from the local press and local government departments. When the project first started, Ouagadougou was 15 km away. Today the municipality of Balkouy is almost already integrated into the capital. The constant stream of people leaving the countryside for the city can be seen as a disaster for Burkina Faso which is a poor country in any case. Rural exodus often ends up in the ditch, because there is no going back to the home village from the city. Returning without riches would be a disgrace. The dream of success in the city soon melts away in the light of bitter reality.

The local villages are also greatly affected by the loss of young people, because every hand is needed at harvest time. In the long term the agricultural yield of the entire country, which is already poor enough, sinks even further. The objective of the farming project is to remedy this situation. Over a period of two years the students learn methods of improving agricultural yield and professional animal husbandry. For another two years the working groups are supported in their villages, applying the skills and methods they learned. The aim is to improve agricultural yield in the long term and deter young people from leaving for the city.

The working groups are recruited from communities outside the city, after consultation with parents and the village elders. At present there are eight in-house groups from four communities, each made up of ten young people aged between 14 and 20. The groups supported externally in the villages comprise a total of 100 young people. Experience with the larger first group indicates that it is more practical to reduce the number in the group to 80 participants.

The farm covers seven hectares with orchards and vegetable gardens, compost pits and housing for the 263 animals they take care of, including 35 pigs, 28 goats, 28 sheep, 42 rabbits, 32 ducks, 39 turkeys, 50 chickens and 9 cattle.

There are eight dormitories for the kids, a recreation hut and a building complex housing the school and the administration offices. There is also a building for the tutors, the vet, the caretaker family (with tool shed) and the kitchen.

The large amounts of water required on the farm is pumped by a generator from a well into large reservoirs on the surface. The skilful use of irrigation systems plays an important role in the young peoples’ training.

Schooling is divided between two main subjects. Here too there is the minimum standard in literacy and mathematics and then there is the theoretical training in vegetable farming, animal husbandry and arable farming.

Each working group must cultivate its own piece of land. This encourages a sense of competition among the various groups and once this practice was up and running it led to significantly better results than the former methods where everyone worked together on large fields.

Each kid must also look after his own plant, creating a sense of responsibility. Since this highly successful measure was introduced, some of the boys even get out of bed long before the early sunrise to tend their plants.

General agriculture is the responsibility of the entire group, using rainwater to irrigate (maize, millet and cow peas). Fruit plantations are replanted and the boys learn about fermentation in compost pits, an art in itself in Burkina Faso because of the climatic conditions.

The Tondtenga project is managed by Samuel Ilboudou with another 15 staff including tutors, teachers, a vet, caretakers and cooks.

The purchase of the land, the building of the facilities, operation and salaries are financed by the Dr Elvire Engel Foundation in Luxemburg (www.fondationdrengel.lu). Contributions to Tondtenga also come from Canadian and Danish Rotary Clubs, who regularly support us with specific donations.

Tondtenga