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Aibatou Mbaye

Young Senegalese woman Aibatou Mbaye is to venture away from her home for the first time to undertake a course in agricultural business management and become one of the Marshal Papworth Fund’s first 'demonstration farmers'.

Sponsored by East Anglian business G’s, and with a bursary from the Marshal Papworth Fund, the course represents a huge opportunity for the 24-year-old and other young people in her community, who are in line to benefit from her knowledge and experience when Mbaye - known as 'Abi' - returns.

The Marshal Papworth Fund exists to educate agricultural and horticultural students from developing countries and its new short course for demonstration farmers has been developed to enable the charity to disseminate valuable knowledge about sustainable farming techniques to many more students in the coming years.

James Parrish, chair of the Marshal Papworth Fund, said: “The fund has a long history of successfully helping young people from developing countries to help themselves and their communities to prosper. It is only with the generous help of organisations like G’s that we are able to deliver this new series of short courses and bring youngsters like Abi to the UK for her training.'

Mbaye lives in Yamane, a village close to West Africa Farms (WAF) where she works as a packhouse quality control supervisor, having worked her way up from picking spring onions during the harvest.

WAF, in which G’s is a partner, grows and packs spring onions and radishes for the UK supermarkets and Abi’s siblings all work for WAF.

As subsistence farmers, Mbaye's training in the UK will enable the people of Yamane to learn more about sustainable small scale agriculture. She said: “I will be able to bring new techniques to my community and help people to grow better crops, while earning more money. I will also be able to help WAF by improving my knowledge of crops as well as the way in which I manage people around the farm.

“Travelling to the UK would be far too expensive for me and I would not be able to undertake this scholarship had it not been for the Marshal Papworth Fund accepting me in the first instance, and G’s paying for my flight and visas. Therefore I am looking forward to making the most of this opportunity to learn lots which I can usefully share with my community and WAF.

“After my studies, I hope to apply what I have learnt to my current role at WAF and help the farm continue to develop. WAF has grown fast and it has brought many benefits to me, my family and community. I hope that it continues to grow and I can continue to grow my career at the same time.”

Since its formation 12 years ago, the Marshal Papworth Fund has helped over 100 young people from developing countries to learn about sustainable agriculture through its MSc and MA courses and now its 10-week BTEC short course. To ensure a sustainable future for people like Mbayei and their communities, the fund relies on donations.