Even at the height of the dry season, the Ouarkhokh cooperative garden continues to thrive thanks to the hard work and dedication of cooperative members.
It’s hot and sunny in Ouarkhokh, Senegal. Very hot. The average temperature over the past week has been 113 degrees F and the community has not seen rain in months! Even in these difficult conditions, agricultural cooperative members in Ouarkhokh have continued to produce vegetables.
With access to an irrigation system in the Ouarkhokh garden site, cooperative members can continue to grow vegetables throughout the region’s long dry season. In March and April, women tended thriving cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, turnips, onions, lettuce, carrots, and sweet potatoes. Even in hot and dry March, cooperative members harvested over 800 pounds of fresh, nutritious produce!
Cooperative members have planted trees in the garden site and next to CREATE!’s Appropriate Technology Training and Demonstration Center.
These vegetables thrive during the dry season because women hand water each plant twice daily. CREATE! Country Representative Omar Ndiaye Seck commends the cooperative members in Ouarkhokh for their dedication and willingness to work even in hot conditions. Thanks to their hard work, the Ouarkhokh garden will continue to produce a bountiful harvest throughout the dry season.
After selling vegetables, like these turnips, in local markets, cooperative members use their profits to purchase additional seeds and gardening supplies.