The Man Who Stopped the Desert

As a child in Burkina Faso, Yacouba was sent away from home to study the Qur'an, where he and his classmates were almost starving. The young boys would trek across miles of wilderness, only to fall and beg at a straw hut for meagre rations. It is from this harsh background that the young farmer became determined to develop techniques that would bring exhausted soil back into production. His efforts have outdone the work of the world's leading scientists and technological advances costing millions of pounds. They may also yet prove crucial to the future of the world's rapidly growing population and global food demands. "Yacouba has single-handedly had more impact on conservation than all the national and international researchers put together", argues Dutch desertification expert, Chris Reij. "We must not be enemies of nature", warns Yacouba, as he works tirelessly on the sun-scorched land. But Yacouba's hardest battle was not to be with the forces of nature. His new techniques went against the accepted wisdom of the traditional land chiefs and prompted an angry response. On his way to meet the local governor to share the results of his work a violent response was waiting. A fire started by locals had destroyed his entire field of crops. It was a devastating setback, but one that only reinforced Yacouba's determined to overcome the stigma of his work. As one scientist points out, what makes Yacouba so inspiring is that "he never stops trying. Every year he is adding to his experience." Bursting grain stores, large cook-pots and plenteous fields reveal the great success of one man's relentless endeavours. But Yacouba's intentions stretch beyond feeding his own family. He speaks passionately of the good his methods have done for the region at large. Those who fled thirty years ago are beginning to return. "We need to eat well to work well", he insists. Thanks to one man's twenty-year devotion, this can finally be achieved in one of the poorest countries on earth.