Burkina Faso's Taiwan Village- Kou River

Most people would mistake photo-graphs taken in the Kou River Reclamation, with its lush paddy fields, crisscross of footpaths and flocks of egrets, for scenes from rural Taiwan.

Greeting guests with millet wine is a Burkina Faso tradition. The highly fragrant drink has quite a kick to it, so guests beware!

However, closer inspection will reveal that actually the farm buildings are not the same and dark-skinned people are working in the fields. The scenes are, in fact, African. Why does Kou River look like Taiwan, not Africa?

No matter what the time of day, the intense heat of Africa is enough to set the head spinning.

In the morning the ROC ambassador to Burkina Faso, Sainting Kung, left the capital Ouagadougou heading for Kou River, which lies 450 km to the south. He was going to present villagers with 500 scythes. The scythes that were given previously were in poor condition and, at the request of the local farmers, he had the new scythes shipped in specially from Taiwan.

It was dusk when Kou River was reached. The county chief, local chiefs, village elders and villagers-over 300 people in all- had been waiting for a while for their guests at the meeting place. Although Burkina Faso is a democratic country, it still retains its chieftain system and the two systems operate together to form a stable system of government.

After solemn introductions were effected, the villagers gave a traditional welcome by taking turns to toast the guests with rice wine.

After the scythes were presented, county chief Ouedraogo Madi Jules said in his speech: "Scythes are used mainly in the harvesting of rice. Cultivation is needed before there is harvest, so I hope you will all work hard." Taiwan's rice culture has taken root in Kou River.

The meeting place is not very far from the base of the Agricultural Technical Mission in Burkina Faso's Kou River branch. In front of the branch's offices are two tall flame trees which shelter the building from the glare of the sun. Red flowers cover the ground below the trees. At the side of the dormitory there is a clump of fruit-laden mango trees. Branch mission technician Chou Tsu-sheng said, pointing to the flame and mango trees, that they are able to enjoy the shelter and juicy mangoes from these trees because they were planted over 20 years ago by the members of the earlier Agricultural Mission.

The old mission members left many valuable things, the most important of which is the Kou River Channel.

A dirt road runs near the branch mission's base. This was originally built to construct the channel and today it is a maintenance road. After a while, the road runs parallel to a waterway. This is the lower stretch of the Kou River Channel. A further 15 km on is the end of the channel and then, at last, the Kou River.

There is a water gate at the side of the river, on which are carved the three Chinese characters for Kou River Channel. These were written in 1969 by the ROC ambassador at the time, Hsu Mao-hsi. About ten meters away from the gate is a dam which blocks the water of the Kou River and raises the water level, allowing water to be diverted into the Kou River Channel. The late 1960's was the heyday of agricultural co-operation between the ROC and African countries and the ROC dispatched a large number of agricultural missions to Africa. An agricultural mission also went to Burkina Faso (then Upper Volta) to assist with transforming this barren area in the southwest of the country into paddy fields. Because the reclamation area was quite high, French experts on the scene at the time thought that it would be impossible to irrigate using gravity and that the plan for an irrigated reclamation area was bound to fail.

Without water there can be no rice. Taiwan's experts looked for a suitable water source and eventually settled on the Kou River, which was 15 km away and which had a year-round flow. They then set about building a main channel six meters wide and over 20 km long which they called "Kou River Channel." This carried water to the reclamation area and, through a system of smaller irrigation channels, into the paddy fields. After the irrigation system was built, 1260 hectares of paddy fields were planted. The Kou River Reclamation has become widely known as one of Africa's largest specialized rice producing zones. This project also became a model of successful agricultural co-operation between an African country and other counties.

Agriculture has no boundaries

After reclamation, farming families were allocated one hectare of paddy fields each. Agricultural Mission personnel passed on Taiwan's rice cultivation experience. Because of the farmers' conscientious efforts to learn and their hard work, in a short while they began to make a profit. After the farmers moved in, villages formed. The government built schools and infrastructure and the area gradually prospered.

One farmer said, "Without the assistance of the ROC, today's Kou River Reclamation would not exist." Moving along the Kou River Channel into the reclamation area there are luscious green paddy fields on both sides which stretch for about five km along the tarmac road and are three or four km deep. The scene is very reminiscent of southern Taiwan.

Turning deeper into the reclamation area, farmers can be seen spreading fertilizer. As they work, billows of white urea rise and fall around them. Agricultural Technical Mission leader Shen Twan-len says that local farmers know that if they use fertilizer they can increase yield and are thus willing to invest in buying fertilizer. By spending NT$100 on fertilizer they can get a return of NT$600-700. Not only are they hard working, they also understand investment and are very willing to co-operate with the mission.

In a paddy field where harvesting was taking place, a farmer estimated that from one hectare he will produce a yield of six tons, which is a good showing. The man said that farmers there adjust their schedules according to their own situation, so sowing and harvesting is not done with the same level of uniformity as in Taiwan.

The young farmer was the son of a man who had received instruction from the earlier Agricultural Mission. He has never received direct instruction himself but learned the basics of rice cultivation from his father. Today, his own son is working with him. Taiwan's rice culture is being passed down the generations in Burkina Faso's agricultural community.

Today, the Kou River branch mission has two resident technicians ready to assist local farmers with their agricultural problems. They also do their best to help when farmers or their families are sick.

Returning to Kou River

In 1973, the ROC severed diplomatic relations with Burkina Faso and the Agricultural Mission left for home. Twenty years later the ROC re-established relations with Burkina Faso and the first request from the latter was that an agricultural mission return to Kou River. In 1994 an agricultural inspection mission, including two members of the old Agricultural Mission, went to Kou River. When they arrived they were given a warm welcome by several hundred farmers. Previous mission members reminisced with older farmers and in the conversations many farmers said that they had benefited greatly from the assistance of the old Agricultural Mission.

The mission members found that, following the methods taught by technicians from Taiwan, the farmers had been independently cultivating for over 20 years. Using ox-drawn ploughs to turn the earth, cultivation had never stopped. Shen Twan-len, leader of the mission said, "It is very moving to see a scene that reminds me of rural Taiwan."

The impact of the Kou River Reclamation project was not limited to the local area. When interior work on the Bagre Reclamation project's irrigation system was carried out, the government recruited two people who had worked on the construction of the Kou River Channel to work as foremen. Their experience, in combination with modern technology, speeded up the development of the Bagre Reclamation.

The irrigation works have lasted as well as the farming techniques that were passed on. The quality of the construction work means that the sides and bottom of the main channel are well preserved. There was silt accumulation in some places, which was cleared with assistance from the Netherlands four years ago. Today the water still flows unimpeded. The Taiwan Agricultural Technical Mission legend is now a part of the everyday lives of the farmers of Kou River.

The successor to Kou River

From the Kou River Reclamation of today it is possible to envisage the future of another example of ROC-Burkina Faso cooperation, the Bagre Reclamation project. The on-going project will provide a further opportunity to observe how agricultural experts from Taiwan and Burkina Faso's farmers co-operate to turn barren land into verdant paddy fields, bringing to fruition a human dream since time immemorial.

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A good worker needs the proper tools. ROC Ambassador to Burkina Faso Sainting Kung provided 5000 new scythes, ordered specially from Taiwan, in response to farmers' requests. At the presentation ceremony, the scythes were received by a representative of the local government.

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The sign for the Kou River district is in both Chinese and French (used for administration in Burkina Faso), indicating that the Reclamation was a miracle created jointly by Taiwan and Burkina Faso.

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Greeting guests with millet wine is a Burkina Faso tradition. The highly fragrant drink has quite a kick to it, so guests beware!

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The women of Burkina Faso really know how to "use their heads." They put to shame those models who practice posture by keeping a book on their heads.

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The Bagre Reclamation Right Bank Development Plan is a successor to the Kou River Reclamation of 30 years ago. The Bagre project, started by an ROC ATM after the restoration of diplomatic relations with Burkina Faso, is now in its fourth phase. By the year 2000, its entire 1000 hectares will be available for planting.

The women of Burkina Faso really know how to "use their heads." They put to shame those models who practice posture by keeping a book on their heads.