Women's Agriculture & Irrigation Program, Senegal

Women digging canal for irrigation in Senegal. Photo: Lowell Fuglie/CWS

Senegalese Association for Research, Study, and Aid for Development

Association Sénégalaise de Recherche, d’Etude, et d’Appui au Développement (ASREAD) is a non-for-profit development organization working in support of community development efforts in northern Senegal. ASREAD's mission is to bring support to the most vulnerable populations in Senegal, women and youth in particular, to give them the necessary means for their development while respecting the environment and gender equity.

This program is located in the arrondissement (county) of Keur Momar Sarr, which contains 207 villages distributed over four rural areas, Syer, Nguer Malal, Gande, and Keur Momar Sarr. The climate is characterized by two seasons: one rainy season lasting four months and a dry season lasting eight months. Rainfall is generally weak, irregular, and poorly distributed. The weakness and irregularity of rainfall makes the rain-dependent cultivation more and more risky. The available water comes from Lake de Guiers or underground waters. Lake de Guiers is the only surface water of the district. During the dry season, people living near the lake cultivated crops on the land left moist by the receding waterlines. However, the completion of the construction of a river dam in the 1980s stabilized the lake water level and this traditional method of agriculture was no longer possible. In this situation, an irrigation device is necessary in order to cultivate vegetables and/or fruit trees during the dry season. The population is very mobile, but its movements are mostly seasonal. These movements occur in the dry season and involve, among the Wolof, young people and women looking for work in town. Among the Peulhs, the whole family moves in search of pastures and water for the animals and or markets for the milk. In Senegal, women are generally organized at the village level. They create what is called Groupement de Promotion Feminine (GPF in French), meaning grouping for women promotion. A federation of those GPF exists at all Senegalese administrative levels. We are including the five groups actually supported by projects funded by CWS (four GPFs) and American Jewish World Service (1 GPF). The GPFs targeted for this project are already organized, but count only on limited means to carry out their activities. The situation of the women in the district is very difficult. This project’s main objective is to strengthen the capacity of women's groups to fight against poverty and rural exodus and the negative consequences on food security and family well-being these issues bring about.

The three-year total of direct participants is 120 women residing in three villages: Diatmel, Syer, and Keur Momar Sarr. Indirectly, the families of the women will benefit for a total group of more than 600 persons. Each participant will secure the land, contribute locally available construction material such as sand and gravel, and provide labor to install and run the garden, The project’s main proposals came from the participants who have chosen the drip irrigation technology they have seen at work in the Senegalese – Israeli pilot farm and with our women support project funded by CWS and American Jewish World Service.

The project’s main objective is to create sustainable, autonomous local employment for 120 women. At project-end three women’s groups from three different villages will be equipped with one garden plot each, including fencing and a drip-irrigation system. Each woman will be able to cultivate a surface area of up to 500 square meters. Additionally, each garden plot will be equipped with a motor pump enabling the women to use the water from Lake Guiers to produce two harvests during the dry seasons. Specific Objectives are: 1) increase the revenue that the 120 women obtain in order to improve food security and general family well-being while staying in their villages; 2) reinforce women’s capacity in the areas literacy, of association organization and management, natural resource management, primary health, and food security.

The availability of water, good land, and labor is a great opportunity for mastering food production. Participants will produce mainly for the market. Food security will be reached through increased income, which will make it possible for the participants to purchase food in quantity and quality for family daily meals. The drip irrigation system is selected for the following reasons:

it economizes water and fuel;it does not cause soil erosion;
it enables the plant to better absorb water;it increases yields up to 30%;
it greatly reduces labour requirements; and
it is simple to use and maintain.

The equipment will be purchased in-country and installed by ASREAD. After installing the system, the ASREAD maintenance agent will teach each group how to maintain the motor pump and the irrigation system. The literacy portion of the project targets the same women undertaking income-generating activities. In each group at least 25 women will be in the adult literacy class and group members and all village inhabitants are invited.

Those two activities are meant to increase the capacities of our partners in matters linked to group and project management and to improving the living conditions of women and their family members. Our marketing strategy will be a combination of production planning, marketing assistance, and an introduction of production conservation techniques. The production planning consists of using our market and technical knowledge to provide advice to farmers about the right crop to grow at any given time. ASREAD has good experience with vegetable gardening in the area of Keur Momar Sarr. This experience will be shared with project participants who are also very knowledgeable in this matter. The main objective is to be present in the market at the most favorable times. Marketing assistance activities will be centered around providing market information related to prices, places, and names of main market traders. If applicable and necessary, we will put in contact women groups with some factories or traders for production purchase contracts. Tomatoes are a good example of such contracts. The only constraints are the quantity available as it is related to transportation cost and means. Another important aspect of our marketing strategy is the introduction of production conservation techniques. This is certainly more applicable for onions than any other crop. For onion conservation the Senegalese Agricultural Research Institute (ISRA) has developed simple appropriate conservation technologies, which can be adopted by each woman. This technology can be applied using construction materials available at local levels. If onion production and harvesting are done following a well-defined itinerary, the conservation is easier and the commodity can be marketed when its price is at its highest.

Support for Church World Service helps make this program possible.

Updated 9/20/04

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