Ibrahima Seck, gardening and fishing often go together in Senegal
Ibrahima Seck was born in the fishing village of Hann, once outside the capital Dakar, but now almost totally enveloped by irresistible urban sprawl. Like many people in West Africa, Ibrahima speaks several languages, Serere, Wolof and French. In addition, he speaks English as well.
Ibrahima works in the Sociocultural Centre of Hann and is responsible for the section on training in information and communication technologies (ICT), much in demand particularly by young people.
He has also been involved in a micro-gardening project co-sponsored by the city of Milan, Italy, and implemented with a model garden in the Sociocultural Centre. Hundreds of women participated in that project, not the least because in many fishing villages in Senegal vegetable gardening and other agricultural activities were the other side of the coin. The combined sea-borne and land-based activities ensured both self-consumption and capacity to market surplus for income.
Ibrahima has been collaborating of late with Carla Zickfeld and Aliou Sall in the exploratory phase of the Mare Nostrum – A voice for West Africa project. More on his involvement there can be seen on this website by clicking here.
Agriculture and food production around Dakar in Senegal
Agriculture in Senegal remains dominated by cereals for local food (millet, maize, sorghum and rice) and cash crops (groundnuts, cotton) in rural areas. In the Niayes zones, horticulture and gardening are practised due to favourable climatic conditions.
Even though production is stagnant or even regressing the authorities are working on strategies to reverse the trend and increase production again. It's also part of the fight against food insecurity. This translates into increasing the cultivated surfaces whenever possible and promoting transformation and other forms of value added garden products.
Since several years the urban gardening sector has witnessed a very rapid development in Dakar and surrounding, particularly with the advent of micro-gardening thanks to a project between Milan and Dakar. The objective of micro-gardens is to contribute to the improvement of food quality within the household and to develop activities advancing the fight against poverty and food insecurity.
In the municipality of the District of Hann Bel-Air, which benefitted from the project, the people have realised quite quickly the importance of this project and have participated actively. Based at the Sociocultural Centre of the municipality of Hann Bel-Air, the project Milan-Dakar has benefited some 800 people, mostly women, through a training and demonstration centre (C.F.D).
These people regrouped in community production centres (C.P.C.) have benefitted in several areas. The exchanges about methods and consumption habits have contributed to the improvements of food in the families.
Even though the first phase was completed in 2008, the project participants continue working in their C.P.C. because they have experienced the advantage for themselves. As less and less space is available in the urban sprawl of Greater Dakar, roof-tops (see below) and other available surfaces are now being utilised for micro-gardening.
Moreover, they are accompanied by volunteers such as myself, who help keep up the level of activities in the expectation of a second phase of the project.
Last but not least the interaction with visitors or NGOs, such as Mundus maris, of which I am a member for the local coordination of the C.F.D. in Hann Bel-Air, helps to generate more results.
Hann is not the only place where this strategy for developing micro-gardening in the city of Dakar has paid off. Besides Hann Bel-Air, nine (9) other municipalities or boroughs have benefitted from the project Milan-Dakar in the context of improving food and feeding conditions. The marketing of any excess produce beyond home consumption remains an potential expansion area for micro-gardening.
This would require the second phase of the project to take off or the support of other partners, which could help scale up the realisations arising from the exchanges between the training and demonstration centres and the community production centres.
Thanks to the earlier programme, the production of several attractive products is within reach, such as salad, cucumber, peppers, mint, zucchini and beets. It therefore seems important to consolidate the achievements of the first phase and go forward with the women, who have made it work so far.
Ibrahima SECK