Issiaka Zoubga is a model producer in Houndé, in the province of Tuy. Passionate about agricultural entrepreneurship, Mr. Zoubga tamed the hills of sector No. 2 of the city to set up his agro-sylvo-pastoral project. On his farm, he planted mango trees, cashew trees, papaya trees on these hills, and practices livestock farming there. A look back at the career of a model and resilient producer.
It was after a few years spent on adventure that Issiaka Zoubga, 47 years old and father of 12 children, returned home and decided in 2015 to get involved in agro-sylvo-pastoral. To carry out his project, in the absence of low-lying land, the former adventurer took up residence at the top of the Bouakuy hills in sector no. 2 of Houndé. These lands, a priori hostile to agricultural production, characterized by very hard and difficult to work stony soils, made him doubt the viability of his project.
But convinced and determined to carry out his project, the native of Loaga, a village in the commune of Poa in Boulkiemdé
(Koudougou), relies on the strength of his arms and his ingenuity to tame his environment. With his bare hands, he picks up the blocks of stones that litter the ground, to make stone cords.
Once the stone cordons are formed, he brings good soil in places to make the land usable. “At first, I was considered crazy (…) without taking into consideration everything that was said, I worked tirelessly to transform the hill into a backwater to be able to produce at any time”, reveals Mr. Zoubga. Once his land was suitable for production, he confides that he began his activities by planting mango and cashew trees.
But very early on, he says, he was faced with the problem of water for the maintenance of his young plants. “I would go and fetch water with three 20-litre cans on my motorbike in town to water the plants,” he recalls. In these conditions, Issaka Zoubga needed four days to water the plants that had been planted. “Each mango tree needs 1 to 2 litres of water per day. With a 20-litre can, I could serve 10
to 15 plants. So with the three cans, I could water 45 plants, or about 200 plants per day,” he says. Today, Issiaka Zoubga has more than 1,000 mango trees and at least 800 cashew trees on his farm, which covers about 6 hectares (ha).
A diversity of activities
Since 2023, he has undertaken the diversification of his activities thanks to the support of the Agricultural Competitiveness Resilience Project (PReCA) which allowed him to build a borehole. In addition to fruit growing, he has combined market gardening (papaya, tomato, etc.), beekeeping and livestock farming. “Currently, I have local chickens and a few small ruminants. Without water, it was difficult for me to raise livestock,” says Issaka Zoubga. On his farm, he employs two permanent workers and, if necessary, several people for daily work.
Issa Ouédraogo is one of his employees. For the past four years, he has worked on the farm in the hills where he lives with his wife and their young daughter. “I do some gardening, I help make the stone bunds a
nd I cultivate with the daba. I also watch over the trees to prevent stray animals from destroying them,” explains Mr. Ouédraogo . Issa Ouédraogo wanted to go to Côte d’Ivoire to work on the plantations, but he finally gave up this project to work on the farm where he is paid 375,000 CFA francs per year.
Despite the vagaries of rainfall in the 2023-2024 agricultural campaign, Issaka Zoubga has seen his mango production increase compared to previous years. “Instead of one ton as in previous years, I was able to harvest seven tons of mangoes this year (editor’s note: 2024), including 2 tons in April, 3 tons in May and 2 tons in June,” he explains. Currently, in the production phase, Mr. Zoubga’s agro-sylvo-pastoral project faces several challenges, including the problem of straying animals. “I need a fence to enclose the entire land.
The fence will allow me to control the entries and exits in the farm,” he emphasizes. Mr. Zoubga also advocates for training that will allow him to improve his skills in the agro
-sylvo-pastoral field. There is also the lack of control over the irrigation system. “I have a borehole topped with a 1,000-liter polytank, but the irrigation equipment for the perimeter requires a lot of technique to facilitate the work,” maintains the tamer of the hills.
Watering, he continues, is still done by hand. Despite these difficulties, Issiaka Zoubga plans to further diversify his activities. In addition to the existing ones, he plans to add fish farming and dairy cow breeding for milk production. Many local residents who were initially skeptical about the “madman’s” achievement have ended up recognizing his feat.
The man with the cans
Among them is Moïse Sanou, a factory worker who nicknamed him “the man with the cans”. “I saw him every time lugging his cans to fetch water. That’s how, after inquiring, I was told that he has an orchard on the hill,” he says. But after judging him too quickly, Moïse Sanou ended up discovering the feat achieved by the producer. “At first, I thought he was crazy.
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I thought he was someone who had been shocked. But when I arrived one day on the site, I understood that he was crazy even if he was doing a crazy job,’ says Mr. Sanou. Mahamadi Malgoubri, another local resident, a breeder by trade, says he knew Mr. Zoubga in his early days when he would graze his herd on the hill which was a bushy and stony place. ‘I saw him planting trees and then going to take away water with his motorbike to water them,’ he remembers.
The same goes for Abel Ido, a producer near the hill farm. “Issaka Zoubga started his activities in front of me. He dug holes to plant mango trees and transported water from the city to come and water the plants.” According to him, the model producer has profoundly transformed this land, previously avoided by everyone for any agricultural activity because of the many stones. In the implementation of his project, Issiaka Zoubga maintains good relations with agricultural technicians.
According to Salif Samandoulgou, an agricultural technician and director
of land and property affairs at Houndé town hall, Mr. Zoubga has been working with his department since 2018. “We were really surprised to see that someone could transform a mountain into a cultivation area. It must be said that it is a mountain that is full of rocks and quartz that are very hard to remove from their extraction area, but he did it,” says Mr. Samadoulgou happily.
For the success of his project, the director of land and property affairs at the Houndé town hall urges the man he affectionately calls “the Burkinabe Chinese” to continue to be supported by the agriculture, livestock and environment services.
Zakaria Ilboudo, head of the sectoral statistical studies department at the provincial directorate in charge of Agriculture in Tuy, recognizes Issiaka Zoubga as a model producer and a fighter. “We appreciate his work and support him in his activities. We have provided technical support. There has also been support in inputs through state support at subsidized prices,” says Zakaria Ilboudo.
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e head of the sectoral statistical studies department at the provincial directorate in charge of Agriculture of Tuy urges the producer to work to obtain quality products in order to conquer the market. For this, he advises him to be rigorous in the treatment of trees.
Source: Burkina Information Agency