Women Discovering Purpose and Community through Cassava with Nancy Nalova

In the eighth episode of Food, Flowers, & Fun: Visits with farm women from around the world, Nancy Nalova of NAN-AGRIC Cameroon talks about:

• Returning to your roots
• Learning innovative value-added processes
• Giving back to the community
• Farming “natural” and “real”
• Much, much more!

You will love this innovative and forward-thinking farmer!

Connect with Nancy at: 

• Website: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076715023709
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancy-nalova-b1801514b/
• Facebook: @nancy.nalova.2025
• Instagram: @nalovanancy

Connect with K at: 

• Website: https://www.penlightfarmers.com
• YouTube: @k.castrataro3466 
• Facebook and Instagram: @penlightfarmers
• Podcast (audio): https://www.penlightfarmers.com/podcast
• Podcast (video): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIVBn53rrIsTwS4ag6hH4DHnxG_Lxqt7x 

Episode Transcript

Unknown (00:00):
How do you find a steady supply of high quality
produce for your processingoperation? For Nancy Nalova, the
answer was clear, grow ityourself. Learn how on this
episode of Food, Flowers, andFun: Visits with farm women from
around the world

(00:25):
if you're the woman who does itall, farm work, housework, book
work, homework, getting up atthe break of dawn. This is the
podcast for you. How do you getaway from the cares of the day.
Restock, rootstock, feedstock,seed stock. Chat with women

(00:46):
around the world to raise foodflowers and fun with your host,
K Castrataro, that's me.
Hello and welcome back to Food,Flowers, and Fun. I am your
host, K Castrataro, and asalways, we are sponsored by Pen
Light for Farmers, which helpsfarmers to create more

(01:08):
satisfying, efficient andpeaceful farm lives as my cat is
eating my foot, ow, stop. Yep,and this is the way it goes on
food, flowers and fun. We arereal, real, real. So today, I am
so excited. We have Nancy Nalovawith us from Cameroon, although

(01:29):
she's currently in the Statestaking some classes. So that's
nice, because it's very hard forus to get in contact with each
other. And she is a cassavagrower, which I had not known
anything about cassava So Nancy,tell us about cassava. Tell us
how you got farming.

(01:49):
Tell us, okay,
actually, I started the cassavajourney in 2019
during the covid, I would saywhen there
was a lot of barriers when itcomes to movement and
everything, and everybody wantedto eat, but there were these

(02:11):
barriers
about that eating thing that weneed, yeah,
everybody. And because of that,we could not have food get in
the country. So we have to startusing what we have. And cassava
was the only thing we couldactually get carbohydrate source
from back in Cameroon. If we'renot eating rice, we're eating

(02:32):
plantain or eating cassava. Sowe have to go back to our roots,
go back to the crops that weusually grow up with, from
grandma, from grandpa, and thatwas cassava, and I decided to go
into that, because as a foodtechnician and as a an agro
processor, I had some ideas onhow to transform this cassava

(02:52):
into over six derivatives thatcould actually help, like for
someone To have an alternativewhen it comes to eating food, oh
yes, we transform that intopowder, like flour, and we use
this flour to do pasta, yeah.Okay, so you could either eat

(03:14):
pasta or you eat it, like,smash, you know, like, how you
smash potatoes, you can actuallyeat that too.
Like, you can have mashed do youput butter and like, what do you
do on your do you do loadedcassava or what? Well, tell me.
Tell me the flavor of cassava.Is it more like a potato, or
more like a sweet potato? Like,is it? Is it kind of sweet?

(03:37):
Like white potatoes? Okay, yep,yeah.
Yeah. So you can put cheese andbutter and yeah, you can
actually put cheese here. Youprobably don't do any of those
things with it. How do you, howdo you like cassava the best?
Oh, I'll say I like it as whatthey usually call salmonella. I
don't think you guys have ithere. Yeah, I like it like,

(03:59):
Okay, you have that here? Yeah,yeah, okay, okay, because I've
not seen that, so we actuallyhave that, like salmonella, you
know, smashed and you eat a bitstew, you know, all our
traditional soups back home,ekusisu, Banga soup, okono soup,
and so on, yeah, that's how like

(04:20):
it. We're gonna have to get somerecipes at the end of this, oh
yes,
definitely going to get, oh, putyour
favorite recipe in the notes atthe bottom.
All right, I'm sorry I got youderailed. So we're, we're
dealing with the pandemic, andyou say, Hey, we're going back
to our roots, and we're going todo cassava, and we're going to

(04:41):
do a bunch of different valueadded products, because not
everybody wants to do theircassava the same way. So talk to
me about how that how thattransition happened.
Okay, so we started with theflower, and when we started
selling it out like salmon. La.People were like, Okay, we want

(05:02):
to get the roots. So we startedputting our roots in the market.
And people were like, Okay,well, if we could have pasta. I
was like, okay, so we had to dopasta. And people like, if we
could have macaroni, I'm like,come on. So that is how we got
over six products out there, wehad over six derivatives from

(05:24):
cassava, and since then, we havebeen kicking the market like,
Okay, everybody is comfortable.And again, a lot of people are
now conscious about theirhealth. And since cassava is a
crop that is gluten free,they're like, Okay, they're
jumping into it now, like, okay,the market is there. It is known

(05:44):
people have a more careful abouttheir health, so they want
products that are going to helpthem to stay healthy. So that is
how the market grew, and westarted expanding, yeah, to
other neighboring countries andso on. Amazing.
So, so tell me, because youknow, we're a lot of farmers on
this podcast. So how did you getinto the growing part of it?

(06:08):
Have you ever grown likecommercially before you did
this? How did you get into that?And who else grows with you?
Because you have quite a quite acool story about how many people
are working with you.
Okay, actually, I have nevergrown cassava before. I had
never grown that before, and wenormally used to source raw

(06:31):
materials, like we go to farms,buy the cassava to transform.
But as the number of people orthe number of demand increased
the we started now sourcing forquality cassava, because you
can, you can do all thosetransformations without quality,
and we could not get that, wecould not get the exact thing

(06:54):
that we needed. So we had tosource for lands and source for
seedlings. And that is how westarted growing our own cassava,
and this is two years now thatwe have been growing, and I will
say it has been amazing. Thejourney has been great. You
know, cassava is a veryresistant crop, so it don't it
doesn't need too much levelfertilizer, watering and so on.

(07:15):
When you plant it in a very goodsoil, and you start to planting,
maybe with an organic manure,it's going to pick up and and
that's it. After six months ornine months, you harvest
Nice, nice. And so you areactually a cooperative, correct?
You have a bunch of differentpeople who all are co owners
together. So how many, how manywomen, I think, right? Are they

(07:38):
all women?
Okay, yeah, they are all women.They are all women. And
presently, we are working withover 50 women, like 50 rural
women, and each of these womenhave their own farms. So it's
not like we, we kind of, youknow, they are working with us,
okay? They are permanent. No,they have their own farms. We

(08:00):
just go to them, supervise them,train them on how to put to
plan, the the cassava, and wegive them the seedlings. We give
them the resources. And whenthey plant, we come and
supervise everything. When it'sready, we come and buy. So this
has permitted us to create acommunity, like a family in the
community through this action,and also giving those women a

(08:22):
sense of purpose and a sense ofmeaning, like, okay, they now
feel important. Like, okay, if Iplan this, if I don't plan, they
won't have so there's thisfeeling of being important. Why
making money? Because that's thegoal, to make money so that we
don't need it. That's justwonderful thing about the

(08:44):
community, working with over 50women. I mean, it's not easy.
We're talking about women here.You have to always be talking,
always be shouting, always. Butat the end, it's so wonderful
seeing us coming together tocelebrate, to plan, to harvest,
to to process. It's justamazing.
So do do your women sometimeshelp each other on their on each

(09:05):
other's farms? Or do they workpretty much their own farm?
No, they they work their ownfarms, because for every
hectare, because each of thesewomen, they own a hectare, and
for every hectare, we allocatefive fired workers there, so
they have people taking care ofthem. And, yeah,
that's incredible, absolutelyincredible.

(09:27):
We are the ones that pay those,those those hired workers. Okay,
so how
does that? I'm curious as to howthat works. So how, how do you
figure out the profit, theprofits for the farmers? Because
I think I also heard you saythat you're supplying the Yeah,
so that's that's something thatin the States, we don't do it

(09:50):
that way, like pretty much thefarmer, at least none of the
farmers I know operate that way,unless, well, I would say the
only exception might be like.CSAs, we have compete Community
Supported Agriculture. Case,it's actually kind of similar to
that, because the the people whoare going to buy food from the
farmer come to the farm, andthey buy a share of the produce,

(10:16):
and so their money is what isused to buy the plants and the
seeds, and, you know, all theequipment that they need
throughout the year. And so it'skind of like a it's like they're
investing a little bit in thecrop, but that's different than
what you're doing. So you youprovide them with everything
that they need, except for theland, or did you also provide

(10:37):
them with the land? Are theyrenting it or owning it
for the land is their land?Okay? Actually, we had to source
women that had lands, but theydidn't have capital to start,
okay? And they didn't even knowwhat to start with. Yeah, yeah,
those lands were actually likein the forest, you know, with a

(11:00):
lot of trees, so we had to pay.They cut down those trees, and
we like, Okay, you're going todo this for us. We give you all
the raw materials. We give youthe level you just do your job,
just supervise, just be you, andwhen you're ready, we just come
up by and we buy and that hashelped us to actually get those
raw materials. It permitted usfirst to get quality. Since we

(11:23):
are the ones supervising, we aresure of the quality of the raw
material. Second, we are buyingnow at a cheaper rate, hm, if,
if, for example, let me justsay, like before we had a farm,
we were actually buying 100 kg,100 kilograms of a bag of
cassava. We were actually buyingthat for $100 Oh, okay. Oh,

(11:47):
yeah, it was very expensive,yeah. But now, since we are into
it and we're doing it ourselves,we are getting that for at least
35 Wow, yeah. So there's a hugethere's a huge difference
and how, how are the farm women,how is that working for them?
So, are they making, like, arethey making enough to live off

(12:11):
of? Is it enough to justsupport, you know, a little bit
of their their family, or doesit meet, like, all of their
needs? Are they? Are they ableto put money aside and, like,
upgrade things? Or I'm justcurious, the Farming. Farming is
never terribly lucrative, so Ialways worry about the farmer.
When I go back home, we're goingto do an interview with one of

(12:33):
those women. So yeah, I thinkthat's what we're going to do,
because they they, I thinkthey're actually gaining more
than us. Yeah, sometimes I'mlike, these women, are we doing
the right thing? But communitywork? Because, actually, what's
their job? It's just tosupervise the farm. Yeah, and

(12:55):
they are the owners of the farm,so it's just, it's not like you
renting a house and you'regiving your landlord money every
month. Like, okay, yeah, so it'sjust like that, yeah, yeah.
Really earning a lot, yeah,anything,
yeah. Oh, well, that's, that'swonderful. And yes, I totally
want to to talk to one of thosefarmers and have her on as well,
because that would be, it wouldbe really great to see from her

(13:18):
perspective, well as as fromyours. So you are actually
involved in some of the growingnow, or, or are you not doing
any of the growing at all, orsupervising the growing?
Well, actually, I usually theday that each person is doing
the planting, I'm there. Yeah,I'm there. I'm always there

(13:41):
because it's a nine monthprocess, so I have definitely
all the time to be therewhenever they are putting that
in the ground. So I'm alwaysthere, like, just to show them
how to do it, because there's away you plant cassava, actually,
you don't just stick it to theground like this, you know,
there's a way. So I'm alwaysthere to show them that, okay,
you have to put this like this,you know? You have to make sure

(14:03):
this root is up. Did you have tomake sure some always there? And
since it's something that we doonce a year, I have all the time
to do that.
Yeah, so were you? So you wereproducing cassava byproducts
before you started growing,right? That's what you were
saying before 19 so, so at thattime, did you have the entire

(14:29):
system? I mean, obviously nowyou've got the farm as well. But
did you start out with just oneproduct, and then you kept
adding products, is how thatworked, and did you? So, how do
you expand it? Where is like,how does that work, in your in
your building and yourinfrastructure? Okay, I'm

(14:50):
curious about everything wewant.
I know right now we're a littlebit stranded because of a
building. Yeah, expansion camewith a lot of. Machines. The
expansion came with a lot ofmachine and we actually got the
machines from a lot of amazingsponsors. And I'd like to say
thank you to the UN forsponsoring us. That's if they're

(15:13):
watching. Like to say thank youto the French Embassy for the
amazing job they did getting usa lot of machines. Thank you to
the MasterCard Foundation. Theyhave been a very big support
system to us. So we actuallyhave all our machines. But now
the problem is space. So thereare some machines that are
outside, and when it comes tothe rainy season, we are

(15:37):
struggling to see how to coverthem up. Oh, but we we actually
looking at constructing our ownfactory, because we actually
rent it, or renting a space, soit's not really big enough. So
we are looking at doing thatprobably next year, or, I don't
know, maybe two years time, Idon't know, because we really
need a very large building.Yeah. So, right, yeah. So we're

(15:59):
looking at that, and it'sprobably going to take us, like,
$100 so we have to really planvery well, right?
100,000 I gotta tell you, I'm soglad to hear that
you know some of that money thatthe UN is spending, and all of
that that that found its way toyou, and I love the fact that

(16:20):
you're taking that and you'reusing it, and there are 50 women
and their families benefitingfrom that, so the ripple effect
of that has got to be huge.Like, have you seen a difference
since you've started workingwith all these women in your in
your community?
Okay, first, the first

(16:42):
set of this, this story is real,and it is even me. I got wowed
the first because we startedwith 10 actually, and this first
10 women. They were like, okay,you've helped us. We want to
give back to the community. AndI was like, what without me

(17:03):
saying anything. And they said,Okay, we can organize a program
in an initiative that supportsyoung girls back to school or
probably small businesses. Andthat is how they started an
initiative under a companycalled empower. So, and I was

(17:25):
amazed with the donations theyactually gave. You know, some of
us were just okay, I'm giving1000 I'm giving $500 I'm giving
$1,000 I'm giving 200
and at the end, we could raise$10,000 $10,000
and it helped us to sponsor atleast 50 girls back to school,

(17:47):
50 girls. So 50 girls,
50 girls, back to secondaryschool. We get school, school
kids, like bags, books, tonursery school, like the babies,
the kids, and we kept apercentage of the money to give
to young girls that are intobusiness. You know, girls are

(18:08):
weak. We cannot hire everybody.We cannot pay everybody. So we
were like, Okay, we couldactually get some ask them, what
is it that you really want todo? How much is it going to
cost? And we give them smallmoney, at least. We give some
$300 some 200 so it just dependson your business and how you
presented it to us, and we haveimpacted a total of 100 girls.

(18:34):
Wow.
So tell me, tell me about someof the the businesses that these
girls have started with yourfunding.
Oh, okay. Oh, there's this lady.She's into dishwashing, like to
do shampoo, to wash plates andeverything, and also towards
dresses. I mean, she has grownvery far because her business is

(18:54):
already in the supermarket. Youknow, around Cameroon, they
actually selling that. Andthere's this also, there's this
young girl that is into chips.She does plantain chips. She
fries and package very well, insuch a way that you can actually
buy and even travel with it. Andthere's this one too. She's into
natural jewels. Actually, herjuice is, that's the best

(19:17):
natural juice I've ever tasted.Yeah, I've had some in America,
but trust me, back home, that'sthe best. And we had, we're
actually seeing how we canpromote her, like, okay, she can
actually do better with thesejewels. She has been working on
this project for a year, and Ithink it's time for her to go a
little bit higher, like gettinggood brands, good containers.

(19:41):
And also we have other small,small girls doing other petty
business, like tailoringpastries, baking birthday cakes
for people whenever they havebirthdays. Yeah, so it's, it's,
it's amazing when you, when yougo back and look at the impact,
you're like, Okay, I'm notwasting my money. I think he's
doing a good job. And it'simpacting lives and and, okay,

(20:02):
it gives you purpose to do more.And actually, we are going to be
launching the fourth edition ofthe empower her project this
December. Ah, and this one isgoing to be mega because we are
actually touching Cameroon andNigeria, so nice. It's going to
be it's going to be awesome.

(20:23):
Oh, you're going to have to keepus updated, and we'll have to
help. I want to help youadvertise that like, that's
okay. That's incredible. I loveit. So I'm, I'm so excited about
all of the things that you'redoing and and yet, as I as I
hear you, and I know that rightnow you're in the United States

(20:43):
for leadership training andbusiness training, right? So
you've done a lot of traveling,and you're running this
business, and you've got theempower her that you're also
supporting. So my question is,do you sleep?

(21:06):
Okay, I'm sharing a I'm sharingan apartment, and
I don't sleep. Sometimes, my mymy partner in me to be like I
don't sleep. You walk morning,afternoon, evening, even when
you're on your bed trying torest, you're sleeping, you're
you're walking, actually, so wedon't So,

(21:31):
so what do we what do you do totry to keep yourself balanced
and to keep from burning out?Because I'll tell you, I am I
burnt out. Okay? It was, it wasnot pretty. It was not pretty.
Like, when you burn out. Icould, I tell people this all
the time. I could hike 10 milesa day and be like, fresh as a

(21:53):
bird, but if I went to go openthis computer up, I'd go to lift
my laptop, and I'd be like,nope, too heavy. Can't do it. My
brain was just done. And so likethat is not something that you
just recover from. And I am, youknow, I'm on the upside now, for
sure, but I'm very aware of howI'm feeling and what I'm doing,

(22:18):
and am I taking good care ofmyself? Because I don't ever
want to end up there again. Sowhen I see amazing women like
you making such a huge impact onthe world, my first thought is
we need to take care of you,because you're taking care of so
many other people, and we wantyou to also be enjoying your

(22:42):
life, to step and to be with usfor a while. We don't, we don't
want to put you under the dirt.So, so tell me, tell me. Do you
have strategies that you use tohelp you, know, stay balanced
and well cared for?
That's why I love traveling,really. So one of my strategies,

(23:06):
actually, is I go for vacationsa lot that one. And when I go
for vacations, I keep theworkers tight. You know, come
on, you you pay people to dothis job. So I'm like, Okay, I
pay you guys, so do your job.Yeah? I forget about it. But
whenever I'm back, that's when Iget all, yeah, so, so that's

(23:28):
just it. I go for vacations.Sometimes I turn off my phone.
I'm like, Okay, this is familyweek. I stay focused, just with
my family. And actually, thoseare the times that you actually
have a lot of clients callingyou, or a lot of work going on,
and you're tempted,
always a catastrophe. That'swhen the catastrophe happens.
So what I do is, I always, youknow, I actually pushed me to

(23:52):
get three phones.
Are they? Are they all fordifferent tasks? Is it? Like
I've heard about men having,like, multiple phones to keep
their women straight, which,which just doesn't work for me,
like you wouldn't want that.

(24:17):
Yeah, I know, I know, but, but Ithink it's helping, it's, it's
helping in the managementprocess, because, okay, whenever
I talk to a client, I have thisparticular phone, and when I'm
out of the office, I leave it atthe office so that I won't be
Yeah, I leave it there. I don'tgo back somewhere, yeah, then I

(24:38):
have a phone, like, just forOkay, meetings and everything.
When I know I don't have ameeting, I leave that phone. I
don't go with it, yeah, then Ihave my personal number. Now, my
the number, my family haseverything, all my friends, that
one, I keep with me always. Sothat's, that's just there. So.

(25:00):
Of how I manage, and with thevacations, and also sometimes
the quiet times, you know,sometimes I just okay, I'm going
for a retreat now. I want totalk to God. I want to, you
know, I want to pray. I want totell Thursday, oh,
yeah, all right. So I'm hearingsome rest and relaxation, and
I'm, I'm hearing some spiritualtime with God, which is always

(25:23):
like, I cannot function withoutthat. So definitely hear you
there and and are there otherthings that that really feed
you? Like, what are the thingsthat you think about? And you're
just like, Man, I'm this makesme happy to do or to be or to
not do the case, maybe

(25:43):
actually,
ice cream makes me happy.
Whenever I'm into ice cream, youknow, varieties, I'm like, Wow,
I'm living my life. You know,
what is your favorite ice cream?
Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry,yeah. So

(26:04):
you like the you like thebasics? Yeah, I like the ones
that have got, like, nuts andmarshmallows, yeah, all the
other countries
for swimming too, because I justfeel like, each time I'm in
water, I feel like there's thislaw that's leaving me. I just

(26:28):
feel relaxed. I feel I feelokay. I'm in a safe place, and I
was like, washing all the stressaway, washing so those are the
two things that whenever I dothem, I'm like, okay, I'm fine.
I'm me, I'm good.
I love that. Yeah, swimming is abig thing for me too. I love, I
love swimming. Of course, I I'mright near the ocean, so it's

(26:50):
easy for me to and, you know,yeah, and we grew up on a on a
farm with a pond, so Swimmingwas, it was not clean, but it
was fun. Lots of algae in thatpond. So I'm curious, because I
don't think of like a lot ofwater in Cameroon, although

(27:11):
during the rainy season, there'sa lot of water in Cameroon. So
do you
we have two beautiful beach inCameroon. Really, it's not
really to actually, we have thewe have the Pacific ocean or the
Atlantic Ocean cutting overCameroon across. So it has

(27:31):
created a lot of sub beach allaround creepy in limber So in
dwala, those are the three mainpoints. And, yeah, they're
beautiful. People are alwaysthere, you know, it's always
full, especially during theweekend. So, yeah, good.
So who knows? We're probablyactually swimming in the same

(27:53):
ocean. Because if you're on theAtlantic, I'm on the Atlantic,
you're just, you're just a wholelot warmer than,
that's right, that's right.
I'm pretty sure, I'm pretty suremy side of the Atlantic is a lot
chillier.
Oh, goodness, we got, we gotthat sound over there like black

(28:16):
so, but it's cool.
It's cool. Well, black sand isbeautiful, though, like, because
we
have volcanoes there, yeah,which have erupted, yeah,
they're still active. So, yeah,yeah,
oh yeah. I love it. So I got usAll derailed. Well, not
completely derailed. We'retalking about talking how we

(28:37):
keep our how we keep our farmlife going, but, but I'm also
curious, because I believe youhad been talking about trying to
get cassava in your cassava intothe states when we last chatted.
Correctly, correct? Yeah,wondering. I'm wondering how
that whole process is workingfor you right now, our President

(28:59):
and our President has not madethings easy for our trade
partners. I'm curious as to howthis, how this has all impacted
you.
Well, um, actually, I still lovehim, though I still love him.
So, um, actually, that's what

(29:21):
I'm going to say. I pray forhim. Okay, we
we're going to do that together.We working on with distributors.
Actually, we already have theproducts right here, Maryland
and New York. So those are thetwo places that you can find
those products. We're workingwith. Distributors are into

(29:42):
African market. Okay, yeah, so,so they buy and they help us
ship over here. So, so they arethe ones taking care of that.
Okay, and do I remember you werein Germany as well?
Yes, it's in Germany, it's inFrance, it's in Canada, and now
us.
All right, Wow, you are reallyso as you keep expanding, are

(30:06):
you looking to bring in morefarmers?
We have to, first of all, getthe lives.
Yeah, yeah, so, so talk to
me. I'm trying to try somethinglike to eat.
No, you You go right ahead the Ilike I said, so for those of you

(30:26):
who are watching, you do notknow this, but she zipped right
back from class to come and Isaid, Hey, why don't you grab a
bite to eat? And she's like, No,no, we'll just do this and and
it'll be okay. And I'm so gladthat you're doing self care.
This is so this is perfect,because this is one of the

(30:47):
things that I'm I'm big about,like, you gotta and maybe you'll
make us some Cassata stuff.Probably not,
but God, probably I'm gonna do,I'm gonna do a recipe and record
that effective.
Oh, really, yeah. Huh.
You gotta love it.
So you're saying that you needto get more land so you can have

(31:08):
more farmers, so you can growmore cassava, so you can be in
more markets, which I am soexcited about. So you can have
more girls in the empower herprogram, and then continue to
just spread all of this like,this is wealth, creating wealth.
And I just, I love it. And it'snot just creating wealth,

(31:29):
because, you know, well, wealthis, you know what? I have a a
coach, and she, she likes theword prosperity, and I like that
so much better than wealth,because if you're, if you're
prosperous, prosperous is somuch more than just money. It's,
it's a state of being, it's astate of mind. It's, it's so

(31:53):
much more. And it's productive.It's like, you're, you're doing
something you're not just like,hoarding gold, you know, like
Midas, you know, wanting to holdon to it all. You're, you're not
doing that. You're, you'recreating something and you're
sharing it with the world. Andso I'm, I'm kind of going
towards that more likeprosperous image, because I like

(32:15):
that better. But what you'redescribing is such an example of
prosperity, begettingprosperity, and just sharing
that and spreading that.
And one of the those ladies thatbenefited from our program, yes,
empower her, and now she's partof it, like she she donated $250

(32:41):
Okay, yeah, from a form that wehelped her to get, and now she
donated 250 to support thefoundation. And actually, she's
a volunteer with the foundation,so, so that's, that's an example
of a success story,
yes, and I love that. So whenyou're looking for land, how do
you, how do you find it? Becausethat's a that's a problem for

(33:03):
farmers here in the UnitedStates as well, like we have,
well, people like my family,who've been on the same property
for five generations, and sothey've, you know, they've got
their land. They don't have togo necessarily, looking for
more. They have it. And then youhave people who are trying to
get land, but they don't haveany, and so that's always a

(33:26):
problem, especially because aswe keep building houses
everywhere, farmland gets moreand more expensive. Because
where do you want to build ahouse? You want to build a house
on a nice, flat field and not ona mountain, you know where the
fight off in the rain. So, um,so finding land is really

(33:48):
challenging for new farmershere. So tell me what it's like
in Cameroon.
Actually, it's the same thing.Okay, lands are becoming very,
very challenging. You know, likeyou said, Everybody's building
now, and they won't go be up.They definitely going to look
for flatlines. So all thefarmers, we have to go up. And

(34:12):
now, when you're thinking ofgoing up, you're thinking of the
distance, you're thinking of thethe hill, you know, the level is
going to put on you when,especially when you harvest it.
You know, so what if therewasn't a car, or there wasn't
something? But actually, what wewe what we're doing now, we're
working with community heads.That's the plan of actually

(34:36):
putting in place to see how wecould get lands immediately they
are being listed. Yeah, becauseI think in Cameroon is first
come first set. So when theleaks are placed, and you go
there first, you get it first.So we try to work with them,
like, Okay, this is the projectat hand, and it's going to bring

(34:58):
create more jobs in yourcommunity. Me, it's going to
help you to become a little bitresponsible. It's going to help
women, you know, they're like,Okay, it's a great idea, and we
will really love you to come sothat is how we were able to get
five heads sign the contractwith us. Like, okay, when the
list we're going to call you. Sowe are expecting a positive

(35:21):
feedback, and we hope we'regoing to get that. Wow.
So you had to do all of thatlegwork a long time before the
land was going to be, yes,available. And how long is your
lease for? Or does it depend?
No, it doesn't depend. Theyjust, they just
leased. So is it like a yearlease, or do you lease it until

(35:43):
you're done with it and youdon't want to lease it anymore?
If, if you could just buy itdirectly, that's fine. But if
you don't have money, you sign acontract. You pay either six
months, one year, five years. Itjust depends on you.
Okay, all right. Okay. So yeah,it is. It is an awful lot of
like here. So it it makes itchallenging sometimes when

(36:06):
you're trying to build yourbusiness, because you don't know
how much access you'll have tothat land at any given time like
that could all kind of fallapart.
So yeah, and that's why Iusually like to just pay, catch,
pay everything and get thedocuments, yeah, because
sometimes you can actually like,Okay, I'm paying, I'm going to
take one year to pay this land,and another buyer comes with,

(36:30):
you know, a bigger amount, and,and, and the person will be
like, okay, um, somebody hasbought this land. You will now
be facing a challenge of onepiece of land being sold to two
people. So that's tries, that'sso sometimes we just like, have
you had that happen before?Where actually not had that

(36:52):
happen? But it happens a lot. Ithappens a lot.
Ah, like a land to four people,
every day you're in courtfighting. So, yeah,
you you should be coming up withnew type,
types of cassava products,

(37:16):
cassava into Rhode Island, notjust New York,
you know, because, because we'resuch a huge market, okay, okay,
wow, although I don't know wehave, we
actually do you have Castraproducts, I don't think so. Even
tapioca,
yeah, we've, we've got them, um,their base. I don't know. I

(37:40):
don't know who provides them,like, where they come from, but
I have seen them. And, yeah, mybrother in law is gluten free,
so I've definitely, definitelygotten familiar with a lot of
the different gluten freeflours. And so I've seen, I've
seen cassava flour, but yeah, itis not a staple yet, although we

(38:01):
have, we have a very highpopulation of of Nigerian,
especially Nigerian immigrantsin Rhode Island, so I would
imagine that they are much morefamiliar with Casa and probably
drive the market In, especiallylike the ethnic restaurants, not
restaurants markets, yeah.

(38:23):
Markets like no.
Well, I mean, I suppose in anethnic restaurant, they would
too.
They actually do have Africanrestaurants too, yes,
yes, they do. But I thinkprobably them cooking themselves
would sell more than just therestaurants. Yeah, that's true
over over the lifetime

(38:44):
of them, that's true anyway,
um, so I know that you stillneed to, like, actually eat, so
I want to let you go. But beforeI do that, I have a question
that I ask every guest before weleave.
Yes, it's, it's my signaturequestion.

(39:06):
One thing that you felt likeevery farmer should know. What
would that be?
Um,
I think every farmer should beable to know how to should I?
Should I say, transfer products?Because actually, um, farmers

(39:28):
assessing a lot of challengewhen it comes to sales. Like a
lot of them, they don't know themarket, and a lot of them, they
produce way more than even themarkets that they actually have.
So I'll say every farmer shouldbe able to learn maybe an
innovation skill. So like, okay,I can be able to transform this

(39:50):
product, even the people don'tbuy this. Okay? For example, I'm
growing tomatoes, okay? If Iharvest them, highest should be
seven days. They get perished,and what if I don't have
customers within that severaldays? What am I going to do? But
if you if you could have theinnovative idea to transform

(40:11):
those tomatoes into ketchup,that's a plus. So they they
should really learn innovativeideas on how to do
transformation, and also how tothey should practice. Should I
say organic farming, you know,like, let everything be real.
Let everything be natural. Thesedays we eat a lot of of

(40:36):
artificial things. I must say,yeah. We do, yeah, so, and
that's the real cause of allthis high cancer, you know,
kidney, liver failure. So Ithink we should go back to how
we were before all thesechemicals came. We're still
surviving, and we had less lessof all these diseases all

(40:56):
around. So I'll just encourageevery farmer to practice organic
farming, sustainable farming,and also learn innovative ideas
on how to transform crops.
Yeah, so that value added typething, yeah? Holly here,
because, yeah, because just andjust growing the crop itself is

(41:17):
usually not nearly asprofitable. You've got a lot of
inputs, but it's a it's a sadthing that the things that we
actually eat, just the way thatthey are, are so much cheaper,
and the farmer gets paid so muchless for them,
exactly, so much less it is.

(41:39):
Well, I want to thank you somuch. Nancy, this has been so
fun. I can't wait to hear aboutyour empower her this December,
like we'll be and, yeah, get mehooked up with with one of your
your farmers, and we'll have,we'll have a a talk from her
about all of the growing sidesof it, because it's been, it's

(42:01):
been really beautiful hearingthat you're doing and you should
be really proud of yourself so
so thank you very
much. Thank you for having me
and all of you out there. We'llsee you next time on food,
flowers and fun. Go in
peace. Okay? How do you farm?Farmer?

(42:22):
Farmwork's calling our show isall done. goodbye, farewell, so
long I do see you next week,same time, same place for Food,
Flowers, and Fun. Go in peace.Visit us at
www.penlightfarmers.com.