Caring for trees, sending children to school and buying medicine

In January and February 2022, the agricultural technicians from gebana Burkina Faso travelled across the country, paying out 10 percent of our profits from the sale of dried mangoes and cashew nuts to almost 3,000 family farmers. A few of the families told us what they think of these payments and what they plan to do with the money.

2022 marked the third year in a row that gebana shared 10 percent of its turnover from the sale of their products with the family farmers in Burkina Faso who made them. Business as usual, then, you might think (more on our approach here). However, there were a few problems with the local bank in Burkina Faso, meaning that these payments got delayed and took a long time to arrive. Now, however, everything has been resolved and the numbers speak for themselves.

We paid out 300'000 euros to 2'963 family farmers for the 2021 harvests. These funds were distributed just as they were in previous years, meaning that everyone within each village received the same amount. This amount is based on the volume delivered by the entire village.

The total amount across all villages was 48 percent higher than in the previous year, although in 2021 we worked with around 11 percent more producers than the year before.

We asked some of these producers what they think of this profit-sharing scheme and what they plan to do with the money:

Zoumana Traore

From Samogohini

“I will use the money to care for and look after my trees. It is quite costly.” – Zoumana Traore received the equivalent of around 82 euros. Measured against the national minimum wage, this equals around one and a half months' pay.

Sita Traore

From Samogohini

“I really like the gebana model. We’ve never seen anything like it before: you get more money even after you’ve sold your product. But gebana should buy our products faster, as soon as we have finished harvesting them. That way, we can sell as much as possible to gebana. I use this bonus to pay for my children’s education and I can buy medicine, which will make these difficult times easier.” – Sita Traore received the equivalent of 82 euros. Measured against the national minimum wage, this equals around one and a half months' pay.

San Traore

From Dan

“I buy foods that I can’t grow myself.” - San Traore received the equivalent of almost 200 euros. Measured against the national minimum wage, this equals around four months' pay.

Mousa Coulibaly

From Bandougou

“The gebana model is a really great thing because it motivates the producers to deliver lots of cashews and mangoes to the cooperative” – Mousa Coulibaly received the equivalent of 255 euros. Measured against the national minimum wage, this equals around five month' pay.

In addition to providing an opportunity to engage in dialogue, the ceremonies give the gebana Burkina Faso team a chance to talk to the producers about organic cultivation, familiarising them and training them in the subject. The most important topics are caring for mango and cashew groves, harvesting methods, processing cashews and the general quality of the products.

“We’re also currently looking into how we can have an even greater impact on local village communities using the money from the gebana model,” says Ousseni Porgo. “We can drill wells for clean drinking water or improve healthcare and education infrastructure.”

You haven’t heard why gebana shares its profits with family farmers? Read more about the topic here and about how profit-sharing in Greece went here.

You can find products from these and many other producers from Burkina Faso in our online shop.