Harvesting in Burkina Faso

Friday, Aïsseta didn't come to the boutique in the morning because she was at the fields harvesting beans. She explained that a lot of them have dried up and so she needs to go to the field for a few days until they harvest all of them. I asked if I could come along and she was more than happy to take me.

Saturday morning at 6:45am, Sabane, her oldest son, arrived to accompany me to their house. When I arrived at their house, Aïsseta had already left with her younger sisters on the donkey cart. I played Nemata, Abadou and their kitten until their grandmother was ready to leave. I thought this would be the same field that's only 1-2km away. Nope, it ended up being 8km roundtrip! The fields aren't even in Boussé, they're in Goabga, the next village north. That grandma has stamina! Aïsseta and her sisters rolled up on the donkey cart after 10 minutes of my arrival. They immediately got to work!

The bean plants grow between the tall millet. The women placed the beans in woven baskets and then dumped the baskets into the cart.

My entire time in Burkina, I've been surprised by the multitude of cornfields. Well, I had one of those face palm moments when I found out that millet fields look exactly like corn fields. The only difference is what they produce. Corn is produced in husks along the stalk of the plant and millet is grown toward the top. When I called my friend to tell her my revelation, she had the same facepalm moment and immediately left her courtyard to see if she was indeed surrounded by corn fields as she'd thought. 

You can see the millet grains on the long rods that grow at the top of each stalk.

Aïsseta's family grows millet, beans and peanuts. The prepared the fields in June and once rainy season start mid-June to July, they planted everything. Harvest season is usually September/October. Aïsseta's family harvests for their family household. Only if they have excess will they sell their harvest in the market. Aïsseta has 4 kids of her own, plus her husband's other son, plus her two younger sisters that live with her and the grandmother. That's 9 mouths to feed all year long! They also have their family boutique for school and miscellaneous fees. However, an estimated 92% of Burkina Faso's population participates in subsistence agriculture to survive. They do not often have a family business as backup income. They rely solely on their harvest, which is very dependent on the soil and rain.

Once the beans are dried, they pull out the beans!