Jean Melaine Bitty | November 20, 2025
News Brief
In Koudougou, near Bouaflé, women farmers are restoring land devastated by illegal gold mining. Led by Pawindebem Zouma Ouédraogo, the Koudougou Women’s Association has grown to nearly 200 members who fill mining pits, add organic matter, and revive soil fertility. With training and tools from the NGO AEIE, the women now grow bananas, beans, tomatoes, and cocoa on formerly barren land. Their harvests provide income, strengthen their role in the community, and help regenerate surrounding forests.
It’s early morning in Koudougou, a village just outside Bouaflé in west-central Côte d’Ivoire. All around, a vibrant mosaic of greenery stretches to the horizon. On her four-hectare farm, 50-year-old Pawindebem Zouma Ouédraogo tends to her land with quiet determination. She says, “This land is all my family and I have left. I can’t let it die…”
A few years ago, illegal gold mining turned Koudougou’s fields into a wasteland of muddy craters and poisoned soil. But two years ago, Ms. Ouédraogo and other women in the community set out to bring the land back to life. Today, the landscape is slowly transforming — wildlife is returning, and vegetation is once again taking root. She says, “Everyone said this land was dead and sterile. We brought it back to life.”
The Koudougou Women’s Association now includes nearly 200 members. They rehabilitate land degraded by gold mining to make it suitable for farming. They fill in the mining pits with soil, then use millet residues, banana leaves, and other organic waste to cover the ground. Ms. Ouédraogo explains that this helps retain water and nourishes the soil. She says, “It’s painstaking work, but it’s an act of love.”
Ms. Ouédraogo explains that in 2022, the NGO Agir pour l’Environnement dans les Industries Extractives (AEIE – Act for the Environment in Extractive Industries) began raising awareness among locals about restoring land degraded by gold mining. In addition to training, Ms. Ouédraogo and the other women received equipment such as rakes, wheelbarrows, and carts to help with soil restoration.
She says she’s already seeing results. Over the past two years, she has started growing tomatoes, okra, soybeans, bananas, and beans on the restored land. She has also planted cocoa. She says, “Today, my field is coming back to life, and the forest around it is slowly regenerating.”
Ms. Ouédraogo estimates this year’s harvest at three tonnes of eggplant, three tonnes of beans, and ten tonnes of bananas. She earned about 4 million CFA francs (around 7,117 USD).
Thanks to this income, Ms. Ouédraogo has gained an important role in her household. She proudly concludes, “Now I’m consulted when important family decisions are made. I feel respected.”
Jacques Koffi, a soil restoration expert with AEIE, says that the women of Koudougou have regained hope thanks to the NGO’s support. He recalls that before their intervention, illegal mining had degraded about 90% of the village’s farmland, leaving it infertile and dry. He says, “We provide ongoing training to these champions. We’re here for the long term.”
The NGO supports the women from soil restoration to nursery development and even product marketing. Mr. Koffi says that introducing compost and intercropping has helped stabilize the soil, reduce erosion, and strengthen the resilience of the plots.
Bintou Sawadogo, another member of the Koudougou Women’s Association, says that on her one-hectare plot, she harvested over a tonne of bananas thanks to the soil restoration techniques. This season, she earned 800,000 CFA francs (about 1,427 USD) from her harvest — money she uses to pay for her children’s schooling.
This support has had an impact far beyond the fields. Through their work and production, the women have become visible actors in local development. They’ve earned recognition from both local authorities and their community. Ms. Ouédraogo concludes, “We are not just repairing the earth — we are giving it a new life.”
