Several years before he died, Dov Pasternak, father of Farmers of the Future, took the time to capture all his experiences and philosophy in a book he called Agricultural Prosperity in Dry Africa.  In typical Dov fashion it’s funny, opinionated and full of stories about the obstacles to successful agricultural development in Africa and the keys to actually make it happen.  It’s a very important book.

On his last trip to Niger, Dov and I met a man from the World Bank responsible for implementing one of its main agricultural programs.  The book had just been published so we left him a copy.  A year later I returned (sadly without Dov this time) and met with the man again.  He said he opened Dov’s book one evening and couldn’t put it down. He stayed up all night reading it.  “A real page-turner,” he said.  “Full of so much important information.  But if you really want to change minds in West Africa, the book needs to be available in French.”  “Sacré bleu! Il a raison,” I thought.  Or something like that.  So a French edition of Dov’s book became an important priority.

When Dov died in 2018, Robin (president of our sister NGO Pencils for Kids), Judy, and I flew to Israel to meet his daughters and pay our respects.  During the visit we mentioned our desire to create a French edition of the book and they gladly gave their permission.  Contento, the Israeli publisher of the English version, also thought it was a great idea.  And so the journey began to create Prospérité Agricole en Afrique Sèche.

On January 31, 2020, two years after we recognized the need for a French edition, the first copies were delivered to Niger in time for important meetings with current and potential partners.  In the next 2 posts I’ll share the story of how the team from Niger, Israel, Canada, and the US worked together through endless ups and downs to make it happen.