Adele Mattieu 1-21-55_1-37-40

—Hello to you both. You can introduce yourselves. First, explain where we are at the moment. — OK. Hello, madam. Let me introduce myself. My name is M. [Gué-blé Boga?] Mattieu. I am the son of [Bobou?], from the region of Gueyo, more precisely the town of Bobou. Currently, we are in a cocoa field that belongs to M. [Gué-blé Boga?] Mattieu. — Hello, Madam. My name is [Zappa Onisou?] Adèle. I am a promoter. This morning, we came to my field to take a look at the work I have done with them to prove them that with the money I took, I did my best. — Because the field we stand in right now belongs to... You both own a field? You are mister and madam, right? You are eh... — We work together. But since I am the one who got the first loan, I started working here. So, this is my lot. — So, whose lot is this? — Madam's. — Could you explain to us— you are part of a group— explain to us how it works. — Yes. My group is called [Ayibem?], I am a member. My promoter's name is [Alou?] François. My number is... I am number 25. I got my first loan from... — How many people form your group? — Well, at first there were 30 people, now there are 26 people. — What is the goal of the group? Why does the group exist? — The group exists because the promoter teaches us how to work and... ... based on what we are taught, we can make progress. — Are you also part of a group, sir? — I am part of a group called [Aziko?]. In the local dialect, [Aziko?] means "let's be the greatest". So, with that group, we can say things are going well. The group helps us improve our daily life, because since Mars and Icraf came here, with the advice people give us, if we follow their advice, it impacts our lives in a positive way. Today, we are in this field thanks to the advice Mars gave us, and the advice Icraf gave us, and the advice Care gave us. — Can you explain to us what advice you received about the field? How you changed the way you do things? — OK. About the field, they gave us a lot of tips. The field you are currently looking at is aging. It is 34 years old. So, Icraf advised us to graft the old trees. Doing so gives us good results. That is what we are doing because they have given examples that we have just seen on the road over there. By grafting those fields, the results are good. So, we are in the grafting phase so that in 2 or 3 years, we will have better results. — How many hectares have you grafted? — We grafted two hectare halves, which makes a quarter... a surface that we call two quarters of a hectare, which makes half a hectare. — In total. — In total. — OK. Now, can you explain what you do with the Care groups? What do you do? — Well, in... Go ahead. — In the Care group, we get loans. Because loans... It is thanks to loans that today, we graft our field. Thanks to loans, we have cleaned up our field. So, Care saved us. — What do you do with their group? — In our group, when Care arrived, we formed groups of 30 people. 25 women and 5 boys. With the [Ayibem?] group, we deposit money each Wednesday. Our share is 500 francs. But I wanted to deposit 2,500 per week. 2,500. So, thanks to my savings, I saw that... I have put a lot in the bank. After two months, we started giving loans. Before giving loans, we calculated shares. So, they calculated my shares. Since it's the beginning, I wanted 70,000 francs to be able to start working. So I took out a loan for 70,000. The loan I took, since I was interested in cocoa, well, that's where I put my money and my work — my money — on cocoa. I grafted part of my field. 50 out of 50. Well, since we do not pay the people that take care of grafting in one time, we give them half — they have half, once in a while, if the cocoa grows, I will try to pay the rest. But I grafted, I cleaned up, and I pumped. So Care helped me very much. — Thank you. I am indeed part of the [Aziko?] group. Earlier, I said that [Aziko?] was the best group. So, we deposit money on Tuesdays. Each Tuesday, we have a meeting at the Icraf office in our town. Icraf has an office. That's where we meet to make our contributions. Now, with the advice Care, Mars and Icraf gave us, they said that yes, by saving money, there will come a time when if you have a lot of money, you will need to take a loan. But that loan must be used in a controlled way because after a certain time, you must reimburse that loan. I said that when there is a lot of money, we reach a place where we can take out loans. And since those loans are taken out for a certain time before we need to pay them back, we take them. That's how the first time, I took out 30,000. And with those 30,000 francs and the advice from Mars, Care, and other people, I said to myself that I needed to succeed in grafting my field because this is an example. I saw how concrete it is. That is how I used the 30,000 francs for grafting. Now that I am done grafting, I have to maintain that field. So, our means are not ideal, but since I am very involved and I contributed a lot of money, they counted my shares and they already amounted to 70,000. At that time, I had to take out another loan for 100,000. That's how I took out 100,000 francs to pay for fertilizer, to pay for what they call insecticides, and to rent a pumping machine. That's how it is. ... more than 100,000, and I paid for insecticides and I paid people to clean up. Here, it costs 20,000 to clean up a quarter of a hectare. I paid 20,000 francs. One bag of fertilizer costs 17,000. I bought at least 3 bags. And—how do you call that?— a pumping machine. I paid 5,000 per day to rent the machine to be able to do the work. And that is the work we are looking at right now. — Without the savings, the loans, the groups, before you did... Could you have done what you have done now or what would happen? — Well, let's say that with Mars and Care, we have a lot of help, because previously, we could take out loans but they were not good loans. It was very difficult. If we asked for 100,000 francs, we had to pay 100,000 —100%. For someone who owns nothing, taking out 100,000 and having to pay 200,000, it is hell. So, we could not do anything. If you see fields that are not maintained, that is why. So now, with the arrival of those organizations, we have a lot of help, because now my field is clean. I am proud. — As for me, about Icraf, [Anadin?] gave us pods and we made bags. With that, I also started planting on my property. Here is my field. Currently, the Mercedes cocoa that is here is productive. I have to say thank you to Icraf, Mars and Care. Thanks to Icraf, all the groups came... All those projects always come to Bobou. I also want to congratulate Icraf. There are tricks, here. — Now... — In front of you, there is a cocoa tree that is 34 years old. That tree is aging. Its yield has dropped so much that really, we had to revive it. For that, we needed the approval of Mars, Icraf and Care, because it is these organizations that give us the means to do it. So, to graft this tree, we use clowns— what we call clowns. Here is C9 and over there, C8. So, to graft it, we do it in two steps. Why? Because if we graft it only on one side, it won't be balanced. So, we need to balance it by grafting on both sides until [it is perfect.?] That is what the Icraf technician did. — OK. — So, you see that this graft is only one month old. It is only one month old. Now, with the example they gave us, and that we saw, after 8 months, it already started producing pods. After 8 months, it already started producing pods. And after 12 months, we must cut the mother tree. We now cut the mother tree and that becomes a new field. It means the field was revived. That is the advice that Mars, Icraf and Care gave us. — Thank you. —Thank you, that's good. — You can go now. — So this cocoa tree in my field has been producing for two years. I got the pods from Icraf. So I had the pods, I put them in a bag, and I came to plant. I have been harvesting for the past two years. So, Care also gave me the means to clean it up. So I also thank Care. Without Care, we would not have the means. So, it is also thanks to Care that we had the means to clean up. As a woman, working with a machete every day... I had to pay for products for pumping, so I paid. With my loan, I also paid for products to pump in the field, so that my field is well-maintained. — How many hectares do you have? — Well, one hectare. — When you say thanks to Care and the project, is it thanks to the group, they helped you start a group... — That's it. Yes, yes. —... and save money. — Yes. Thanks to the group, and also to the Town Savings Association, [INAUDIBLE] without that, we can't— I cannot take out loans elsewhere. If you take out a loan elsewhere, there are no secrets. But within the Care AVEC group, it is secret. Also, if you take out a loan, it is not 100%, but 10%. That is very good. — Has your productivity increased? Do you harvest more bags? Is there a difference? You can tell us, before I harvested a certain number of bags, now I have as many bags... Can you tell us that? — Yes. Before, well, since I did not have the means to maintain my field, I did not get much. And since now I take out loans to maintain my field, it yields a lot and I am happy with what Care did for me, and also with what Icraf did for me. Now, since... with the money I have taken out to maintain my field, before, it was only half bags... Now, I get 2 or 3 bags which is good for me and my life, too. That money can help me send my children to school and it also helps my husband. [LAUGHS] — Yes, well, but I should say that the land belonged to my father, — M. [Ossié Gué-blé?] Phillipe— who passed away. He was a landowner, the owner of [Bobou?]. He was even the village chief in [Bobou?]. And since I am his son, I inherited the land. I am the owner of the land. So, I stand on this land as its owner. I did not have to ask for it to anyone. It is mine. Now that I am married, my wife and I had to work. And in order to do that, with the advice of the people from Care and Mars, the man and the woman need to complement each other to build a good household and to provide for the children and do what's necessary. At that moment, I said to myself OK, that advice, we need to put it to use. So, madam, let's do this. I will divide the land in two parts. It is good for us both, but I also want to see how you work. And that's how I divided the land. I gave her half, I took the other half. Even if they come together, I have to say she earns a lot. Because for the woman, it's not easy to spend what she earns. It comes. But for us boys, it disappears. It disappears. But it's better with that advice. Now [INAUDIBLE] gave us even more advice, like how to quell family problems, problems at home. It's at that moment that we said to each other, early in the morning, very early in the morning, we get up, around 4 or 5 am, and we remember the advice we received so that our family can move forward. And that is the advice that enabled us to succeed with the upcoming Mars visit. —Thank you.