Better Farming Series 15 - Cereals (FAO - INADES, 1977, 51 p.): Other cereals: Fonio

Better Farming Series 15 - Cereals (FAO - INADES, 1977, 51 p.)

(introduction...)

Preface

What are food crops?

(introduction...)

What cereals are grown in Africa?

Why cereals are grown

Why we should produce and sell more cereals

Traditional cereal growing

Growing cereals in the modern way

Clearing land and grubbing out trees

Conserving and improving the soil

Applying manure and fertilizers

Preparing the soil

Selecting and preparing seeds

Sowing in rows

How to look after cereals

Harvesting

Selling part of the harvest

Sorghum and millet

(introduction...)

Sorghum

Millet

(introduction...)

How to grow sorghum and millet

(introduction...)

Growing sorghum in the dry season

Sorghum for animal feeding

Maize

(introduction...)

Traditional maize growing

How to increase maize yields

Other cereals

Fonio

Finger millet

Wheat

Fonio

Fonio is a short cereal, about 45 centimetres high. It yields very small grains.

Fonio is chiefly grown in savanna regions of west Africa, such as Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Upper Volta, Niger.

Fonio grows and ripens quickly. It can be harvested long before millet or sorghum. Thus, the inhabitants of savanna regions who have no millet or sorghum during the hungry season can eat fonio.

Fonio grows well even on poor soil. It is much grown in certain mountainous regions such as Fouta Djallon in Guinea, and on soils with a little laterite in Upper Volta and Mali. It is a plant that needs very little water to grow well. It is grown on very dry and poor soils.

Fonio should be sown at the end of a rotation, just before the fallow.

Fonio fields must be protected from birds that eat the grain.

Harvesting fonio is difficult, because the grain is very small. Much grain can be lost in harvesting. Do not wait until the grain is too ripe.