Cooperative members in Ouarkhokh hope to grow irrigated crops year-round throughout their garden site. Currently, women hand water crops during Senegal’s long dry season.
In addition to cooking, gathering firewood, and caring for children, a group of 35 women in Ouarkhokh also gather at their 4-acre cooperative garden twice daily to water their vegetable crops. During Senegal’s 8-month dry season, these women are only able to plant and water crops in about half of the garden plot. Hand watering is not only labor-intensive, but also costly, as the garden’s water is from a commercial source. Drip irrigation is a sustainable and appropriate solution to this need.
CREATE! needs your help to raise money for Ouarkhokh’s drip irrigation system. You can donate to this project on CREATE!’s GlobalGiving page: http://goto.gg/19655. The cooperative in Ouarkhokh is excited for this new opportunity and are contributing a portion of the installation costs for the drip irrigation system. Cooperative members will also assist with the system installation and will receive training on long-term system maintenance. With your donations, we can match the cooperative’s contribution and help these women achieve their dreams!
The Ouarkhokh cooperative has accomplished so much in the past four years. Think of what they can accomplish when they are able to save time and labor with drip irrigation!
CREATE! will install a drip irrigation system in two acres of land within Ouarkhokh’s existing cooperative garden that is currently only cultivated during the short rainy season. By providing access to a drip irrigation system, cooperative members can increase the amount of irrigated land in their garden plot by 75% and save money, time, and labor through efficient water use.
A drip irrigation network will help Ouarkhokh cooperative members fully exploit the land in their garden through year-round irrigated agriculture. Women will save time and labor while learning valuable new agricultural and technical skills. Increasing yields of peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, and other vegetables will also improve local access to vegetables and increase incomes. Through drip irrigation, cooperative members can use their own skills and labor to improve the lives of their families.
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Women will be able to sustainably produce additional vegetable crops, like these okra, year-round with efficient drip irrigation techniques.