The rustic work (farming) in Tem community

The rustic work (farming) in Tem community

When i was around 15 years old, i used to go to help my uncle to work on his farm during the raining season. So what I am writing is a pure experience of how the life goes on during the rustic work in tem community.

First of all, to farm, a person has to cut down small trees on the farmyard or to weed and then put the grasses and small trees together in order to burn them. The second step is to start cultivating the ground, i mean to transform the ground into something you can sow on depending on the type of plant, tubercles or cereals you need to have. Most of the time, it is cereal people used to sow on furrows. After transforming the ground, the third step is to sow seeds and hope that it rains on that day. Because, if there is the rain after you have sown, the probability of having a very good result is high and also, birds will not be able to scratch the ground in order to take away the seeds you have sown. After sowing, the next thing to do is to wait until you see the first shoots of your seeds or the first sprout of your potato or yam for example. Now, in order to prevent animals from eating these shoots of the seeds, a farmer will go to look for solid wastes the animals get rid of their bodies and put them in water for them to be liquid, then pour them from time to time on these shoots so that if animals smell it, they will not graze the shoots. The fourth step, is to weed after the shoots are little bit grown and especially when there are many weeds on the farm. Sometimes, farmers use to weed the farm two or three times before the harvest. Finally, comes the harvest after seeds sown or things planted are well grown. This harvest happens most of time during dry season.

What is important to know is that everything said so far is done by a human being and not a machine. So, for a big farm, many Tem people are invited to take part to these different activities and that is our concern in this work.

The rustic work differs from one area to another in Tem community. For example, in towns, people use to farm just behind their houses or somewhere very close to their houses. In these small farms, the work is down by father and his sons or only sons if the father is too old and cannot stand on his feet. Often, this farming is done on small scales and does not need a lot of people to do the work. In fact, during the raining season, you will see small farms everywhere in the town. Most of time, it is the corn which is grown in towns and it is not used in this area to be sold but to be used for cooking at home because in Tem community we use corn to make a lot foods such as the pastry, the baby food. Women take part to this rustic work in town only during the harvest which is not the case of what is going on in the villages. In addition to that, some women use to boil corns or to grill them and then you will see these women at the side of the road selling.

In villages, the rustic work is done in a different way from the one in town since it is the area where there are very large farms. There, many people take part in the processes of farming. If somebody needs help from his neighbors, he has to inform them many days before and prepare a quantity of food he will cook for them on the day of the work and that is what we call in tem kɩgalawʋ. This kɩgalawʋ is mostly done by men especially leaders of the village and it will be very strange if a woman calls for it. The food he has to cook for the farmers who will come to help him must be sufficient.

On the day of the work, early in the morning, those who are invited to be for help will directly go on the farm and there will be many people coming from one side to another of the farm. After a while, they will gather in order to have the instructions and discuss about the way the work must be down. Once this is done, they will change their dresses and put on the old clothes before starting to work without wasting time and during the work, there will be some who will always say jokes and others will be laughing. Sometimes, they tell stories about a kɩgalawʋ they have done on somebody's farm and other various stories. Then, the owner of the farm will go from one area to another to see if everybody is fine and encourage them with some technical words such abaaláa mίna konkárί (men thank you) or say the following if it is a woman: aláa gɛ bɩgɛ́ɛ (this is a woman). In Tem, to call people by saying abaaláa (men) or aláa (women) means that they are brave, strong and courageous. In fact, some women will be around to bring water if somebody is thirsty while others will be at home cooking for farmers. When doing the work, it happens that the farmers kill snakes. So women are not supposed to pass the places where there are weeds or small trees nor going in front of the place farmers are doing the work. It is said that the bad animals (reptiles) living in the bush take these directions when hearing the noises from the movement of the farmers' cutlasses. In fact, within farmers, there are some who are very good at making traditional medicines out of leaves of some plants or roots. If somebody in the group is wounded by a cutlass or bitten by a snake, they are they ones who will quickly take care of him or her. Others are good at fixing cutlasses or sharping them and will always be for help if somebody is in need.

The farmers will work from early in the morning till the time they sow women coming with food and this happens most of time at midday. From that time, they will directly know that it is time for the rest and then continue the work after they have finished eating. So the arrival of women with food announces this time of rest. The food will be put in big bowls for farmers to eat in groups. Most of time, the food is composed of beans with many gari (traditional food) inside and palm oil or the ordinary one ; water will be always close to them. Those who eat and do not feel full will ask more by joking and finally the get it. It is the place people will get to know one another with many questions and the discussions go on while eating. After eating, some will change again their dresses, perform ablutions and pray God before waiting a little bit for the work to start again. Others will be lying on the floor in order to rest.

We have to know that, the farmers will not go back home until the whole work is finished. For this reason, to invite people to be for help, the owner of the farm will take into account the length of the land, then imagine the number of people needed for the work. The work is done only one day unless there is a natural disaster which prevents them from finishing the work.

The rest moment will last at least two hours and most of time from 12h to 2h pm, I mean the time the sun is very shining and people feel very hot.

After, eating and resting, the work will start again and now only elders will do the great part of the work and young people will be collecting some stalks lying on farmyard and helping women to bring water to workers. The work will be going on until 5h pm and it before finishing. After the end of the work, there will be some exchanges of thanking between the owner of the farm and the workers who will reply by thanking for the food especially if they got a lot of or have some food left to bring at home. No money is given to anyone of them.

As well as the rustic work in the town, it will take most of the time three months before everything can be grown on the farm and the farm must be at least weeded two times for the things sown to grow very well. Then comes the moment of the harvest.

For the harvest, there must not be as many people as the time of cultivating the ground. For this time, many women will be involved especially when it is peanut or maize. If it is peanut, it is during the work that people will be eating and until the end of the work, their stomachs are full. Some will even make fire on the farmyard to cook it and this is the same if it is maize, they will cook it to eat on the farm. At the end, they will bring the product of the harvest at home. Sometimes, the harvest can last three days depending on the quantity of the products on the farm.