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GHANA 2024. Chef Binta's story: An Ancient Grain for a better and sustainable future

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GHANA 2024. Chef Binta's story: An Ancient Grain for a better and sustainable future

Fatmata Binta, an acclaimed chef, works with FAO to empower women fonio producers in Chereponi, North-Eastern Ghana through good agricultural practices for better production, better nutrition, better environment and a better life.

Born in Sierra Lione, Chef Binta is the first African to receive the Basque Culinary World Prize in 2022 for her work to promote Fulani cuisine, including fonio. Chef Binta is using the prize money to set up the Fulani Kitchen Foundation supporting women farmers and their cultivation of fonio, a type of millet, as an additional source of income and a crop that is resilient to climate change.
[EN language version]

Language English

Duration 2m44s

Edit Version Full Mix

Video Type Field Story

Date 10/10/2024 8:06 AM

File size 759.92 MB

Unique ID UF18Q7W

Production details and shotlist

UNFAO Source FAO Video

Script Fatmata Binta
Chef

"My name is Fatmata Binta, I'm a chef.
I come from a tribe called the Fulanis.
It's the largest nomadic tribe in Africa.

There was a time I experienced civil war in Sierra Leone.
When the war broke, we had to flee to my ancestral home.
And rice and every other food they had couldn't sustain us.
We had to come up with sustainable
ways to actually sustain ourselves. And we started growing fonio.
So for me, fonio is very, it's very personal.

These days we talk a lot about food loss.
We talk about hunger.
We talk about climate change.
And I see fonio as a solution.
I call it the iconic grain.

Fonio is a very special grain.
It's a tiny grain.
It's very nutritious
and delicious.
It's also indigenous to Africa.
It's very easy to grow,
and also thrives in drought areas,
all arid areas.

I really encourage everyone I meet to add it to their diet.

I've spent a lot of time traveling across Africa
learning about indigenous knowledge
and techniques from indigenous women.
And I think it shapes me a lot as a chef.

The sourcing and growing of fonio in this community
has impacted these women greatly because the more they grow fonio,
the more they sell it, you know.
More collaboration, more skills we transfer here
from one generation to another.
They are able to feed their families, able
to put their kids through school.
It tackles all the areas of better
production, better
nutrition, better environment
and better lives.

I believe in creating opportunities
for women in these rural communities.

This collaboration between FAO and I has been very impactful,
I’m just looking forward to it growing from here."

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