In January, CREATE! field technicians worked with community volunteers to rehabilitate existing wells and install solar-powered water pumps and gravity-fed irrigation systems in the Back Samba Dior and Keur Daouda new garden sites. Now that access to clean, abundant, and affordable water is secured in these communities, CREATE!’s field team is transitioning to the next stage of our partnership with these villages.
In both communities, technicians organized residents into cooperative groups and scheduled two days a week for training and mobilization activities. Thanks to expert training from CREATE! field technicians, cooperative members now know how to create seedling nurseries and to sow seeds. They can also build planting beds and transplant vegetable seedlings. Participants are also learning how to properly water vegetable plants and how to use compost to improve soil productivity. Over the next several months, field technicians will continue to work with cooperative members to strengthen and expand these agricultural skills in their new garden sites.
Cooperatives in Back Samba Dior and Keur Daouda are learning how to grow a variety of vegetables commonly eaten in Senegal, including lettuce, okra, eggplant, tomatoes, onions, and peppers. In just a few weeks, cooperative members will begin to harvest these vegetables to sell and to consume at home, helping to ensure that families in these villages have secure access to healthy food.