The IrriSahel project is based on a will to offer sustainable solutions to food insecurity, rural exodus and water end of stock in Tivaouane department in Senegal thanks to the development of market gardening and with irrigation.

The IrriSahel story

The land in Tivaouane department is very dry. It is really difficult for people to live in those villages. In Meckhé for exemple, the agricultural production isn't enough to protect inhabitants from food insecurity. To meet their family needs, men often go to Dakar where jobs are.

Yves Allibert (CEO of Irrijardin) and Christian Marquestaut (from ASODIA) started the IrriSahel actions by joining their competences and knowledges. One in irrigation and the other in agriculture. When they began this project of developing market gardening and raising awarness among inhabitants to a better water management, they had 4 goals :

- Create jobs to stop rural exodus.

- Food security thanks to larger harvest

- Create a real local economy with the sell of surplus.

- Help people to face drought by handing down our knowledge.

What make this project strong and least for 10 years is that it gather multiple actors : firms, associations, schools, from France but also from Senegal. The Senegalese are very involved in this project and that's also why it's such a success.

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Firsts realizations

Between 2010 and 2012, we created 4 market gardening perimeters in 4 villages. It has been possible thanks to the use of waterworks, the donation of irrigation equipment and the technical support on the spot.

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Those 4 perimeters IrriSahel had a good yield so, by word of mouth, the market gardening activity developed quickly. Where there was only dry land before, we can now see onions, tomatoes, salads, chillis spreading endlessly. Since november 2015, around 350 market gardeners joined this adventure et work now on their own lands. The initials goals of the IrriSahel project are almost accomplished.

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Spreading the success to as many people as possible

However, all this new market gardeners have not the same support than our 4 initial perimeters.They don't know every methods about watering and that can be a problem for their culture, especially during very dry periods.

A well-used and controled watering could be a way to cultivate, for the same amount of water, a larger part of land. It will also allowed market gardeners to increase their earnings and, for the area, increase the number of market gardeners.

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Why this crowdfunding campaign ?

After our firsts actions in Senegal, our will is today to use the Training Center of Keur Moussa as focal point for IrriSahel project. This centre is invested in the project since its beginning thanks to its director Maximilien Pouille, who brings gardeners a technical support.

By giving the Training Centre the equipments it needs, it will be possible to train current and future market gardeners to watering and to give them help with their cultures. The objective is to insure the durability of the things we've accomplished yet and insure the independence to the Méckhé village and the nearby.

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Our plan to insure this independence

The Training Centre provides already courses about agriculture but its equipments aren't enough to meet the needs. That's the heart of our campaign : to give the means to the Center to gain a water reservoir, waterworks, and develop several market gardining plots with different kind of watering.

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Once the center get its equipments, the trainings will be more relevant and during each class someone will be named as a "relay runner". He will have to give little courses to people who can't attend the trainings.

Members of the center (technician and director) will carry some regular follow-up out to check the good application of the methods learned, to complete the teaching if necessary and to find new candidates to the training. Besides, we'd also like to carry out follow-ups by technicians from Irrijardin and interns from the Engineering school of Purpan, South France. The objective is to help Senegalese trainers to develop their knowledges, to notice the impacts of the centre on the local economy and to give potential improvements.

Finally, we want to create an investment support fund to allow the market garnerer to install on their land one of the watering method that they would have learned. We'd like to developp microcredit, more reliable and wich will help more people in the long term.

Projet IrriSahel : développer l'irrigation au Sénégal