CFAFR | Centre de Formation Agricole Frère Remy

SWITCH AFRICA GREEN PROJECT AT CENTRE DE FORMATION AGRICOLE FRERE REMY

The overall objective of SWITCH Africa Green (SAG) is to support six countries in Africa to achieve sustainable development by engaging in the transition towards an inclusive green economy, based on sustainable consumption and production patterns, while generating growth, creating decent jobs and reducing poverty . . .

The Agricultural Training Center Frère Rémy is under the auspices of the Apostolic Vicariate of Rodrigues. The institution started its theoretical and practical activities in 1988, with five young girls and boys, flunked of the Certificate of Primary Education (CPE). Today, it welcomes about forty students annually. The center has obtained funding at several levels to help children with learning difficulties.

Overview of some success stories

Christian Perrine, 27 years old

Christian is a 27-year-old alumni of Centre de Formation Agricole Frere Remy, which is a SAG grantee. He has participated in different trainings on sustainable agriculture with a focus on chicken rearing. After his time at the Centre de Formation Agricole Frere Remy, he did not fully grasp the responsibility and the skill needed to run a farm. This has necessitated regular visits by the coach from the Centre de Formation Agricole Frere Remy to provide the required support. Importantly, Christian lives in an isolated place on his own and walks long distances to collect water and food for his chicken. Despite these challenges, from 15 chicks, Christian now has 45 chicken in his farm. He hopes to improve on the infrastructure for the chicken. He is currently exploring financing opportunities to support his start-up to enable him to scale up. Christian is based in Reposoir, Rodrigues.
Stephan, 20 years old

Stephan, an alumni of Centre de Formation Agricole Frere Remy, is an agricultural entrepreneur who concentrates on crop farming but is also interested in florist and general landscaping and gardening. After undergoing SAG training, he started by rearing chicken and grew by diversifying to crops such as red beans, peanuts and potatoes. In his farm, he also has a separate section specifically for spices. Stephan has used the revenues generated from his agribusiness to support his brother (who studied agriculture) through university education. With his brother back, the two now hope to start an online market with delivery service for agricultural products and later expand to exports. They have already purchased a cargo tricycle truck (Apsonic) for delivery services.
Herman Agathe, 19 years old

By adopting sustainable agricultural practices, Herman Agathe has managed to increase his flock from 4 animals to 126 animals. He has pigs, goats, sheep, chicken, ducks and cows in his flock. Based in Roche Bon Dieu, Rodrigues Island, Herman is an exceptional 18-year old who has managed to reap benefits from his hard work. Herman was first introduced to sustainable agriculture in 2015 when he attended a series of trainings organized by Centre de Formation Agricole Frère Remy, a SWITCH Africa Green grantee. There, he got an opportunity to interact with other farmers and experts and got to learn about various concepts on sustainable agriculture, book-keeping and business management.

Initially having poor records for his business, he worked hard and smart to apply the new ideas and innovative concepts he learnt to his farm. Herman has managed to grow the numbers of the animals he has, trading them for profit. For instance, he reaps good profit when he sells his goats, whose price ranges from MUR 4,000 – MUR 6,000 ($115 – $170). Herman also sells the organic manure he gets from his animals, with a 50kg bag sells for MUR 50 ($1.50). The animals produce about 15 bags of organic manure per month. He has also started processing pig sausages from the pigs he rears for higher profit.

Notably, Herman has managed to build himself a house from the profits generated from his business. Herman has shared his experiences to show use of sustainable agricultural practices by youth at various forums including the Regional Networking Forum that took place in Uganda in May 2016, and most recently the Mauritius National Networking Forum that took place on Rodrigues in May 2017.

“I want to lease land to be able to embark on crop production,” he said of his plans to expand his farming activities. He is optimistic that with the training received he will be able to expand and successfully run a big farm. He lives with his grandmother (78), mother (58), Uncle (24, bother (16) and nephew. He also supports his family form the income he generates. Currently, he is looking for financing opportunities to expand his business.