Fishermen village in Kou valley

Located in southwestern Burkina Faso at the edge of a natural pond of 100 ha, the 150 people of the village live from fishing and agriculture

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Burkina Faso

Third of the population living below the poverty level

The Burkina Faso is a West Africa country of 16 million people mainly rural people. it's among the poorest country in the wolrd with the third of the population who live below of the proverty level (1.90 $ a day) with a PPP GDP in 2018 of 1 985 $ per capita, against 62 794 $ for United States.
The Kou is a little stream in south-west of the country at twenty five kilometers of Bobo Dioulasso.

The Kou valley, a rice-growing plain

The Kou valley

The rice granary of Burkina Faso

This valley has been organized in '70s by the chinese foreign aid service, who had transformed a large lowland of 2 470 acres in irrigate land to farm rice.
At that time, the hundred families people who living in Bama are not enought to farm the entire land, the Upper Volta administration (now Burkina Faso) organized a migration campagne to cultivate rice. New arrivals build six village with mudbrick house and corrugated iron roof.

Dao Issouf fisherman in the Kou valley

A fishermen village

Due of his remoteness, the village people organized themselves to face difficulties.

This families have established in the '70s near a natural pond around 250 acres, fishing and farming living.
For some years now, the fish become more and more dangerous because of hippo overpopulation wich cause accident. A fisherman was kill by one hippo in 2014.
Two local association have existed for '90s. Fishermen association, « Koba » (big pond in Dioula).
Women who buy husband fish to smoked or dried and sold them in town are also oragnize in association, « Mouniou » (mutual aid in Dioula).

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