Bringing forth water to combat food insecurity and climate change in the Sahel

The vast lands of the Saloum at the heart of Senegal are breathtaking. The ephemeral greenery of the landscape stretches as far as the eye can see, full of promise for future harvests. For those living off the land, this is the time to plant and to wait for nature to work its miracle.

Droughts, delayed rainfall and the vagaries of weather and climate are no longer a concern for the Disso Group, a 40-member cooperative with 38 women, that manages a two-hectare market garden in Keur Ali Guèye. Water now flows continuously. Barbed-wire fences protect the area from stray animals. Carefully selected seeds are already sprouting, heralding a good harvest ahead.

But this was not always the case. “We had to draw water from wells, by hand.  This was very strenuous and tedious,” admits Fatim Sarr, President of Disso. "But for two years now, with the installation of the irrigation system, solar panels and fences, our work has improved. We are encouraged to produce more”.

Disso now grows three crops a year. For the rainy season, they plant mainly corn and okra using a spray irrigation system. Their visible success generates interests. “We already have 30 persons who want to join so that they too can increase their output. They say that what we have here is gold!”, exclaims Fatim, before conducting a second inspection of her okra crop.

Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal: irrigation systems that have a lasting impact on small farmers.

The successes achieved in Keur Aly Guèye flows from the Sahel Irrigation Initiative Support Project (SIIP), financed by the World Bank through the International Development Association, IDA ($170 million) and by the Spanish Agency for International Development and Cooperation, AECID (€30 million). Coordinated by the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), SIIP aims to make a sustainable impact on small-scale farmers in the six Sahel States.

While spray irrigation is used in the Saloum area of Senegal, other methods are recommended at other places to meet the same needs: bringing water to farmland to increase output and combat food insecurity.

In the Doukour valley in Chad, at some 900 kilometers from N'djamena, a small hydraulic structure built in the runoff bed has been rehabilitated. This serves as a dam that retains water in the high-water period and allows it to permeate deep into the ground to recharge the groundwater table for several months. In this semi-arid land, 17 villages avail themselves of the benefits provided by this structure to irrigate their garden crops.

Fattah Hassan Dubaal, Head of the Adoulous Group that was formed almost 10 years ago, oversees the work performed by her colleagues. With a team of 33 women, the cooperative covers 1.7 hectares spread across the area of the hydraulic structure, producing vegetables for their own consumption as well as for sale.

“SIIP has helped us a lot with irrigation, fences, inputs, seeds, and horse-drawn carts. We now grow crops during three agricultural seasons each year, and our production has increased from about a dozen sacks of garden products to a minimum of 65” notes Fattah. “Our annual income is now around CFAF 3-4 million per year, up from around 500,000 formerly.  After deducting recurrent expenditure, the surplus is distributed among the members. Whatever money I receive, I use it to feed my children, take care of them and enroll them in school,” adds this mother of six.

The early successes are already being emulated elsewhere. “Three neighboring groups want to copy what we are doing, even as we are already moving ahead to address other challenges: transportation to the city of Abéché, consolidating our new clientele, better marketing and storage of our crops that are increasing in volume,” adds Fattah.

Further, in Tekane (260 kms from Nouakchott in Mauritania), Adinou Moumour Sy, farmer and father of five, oversees crop planting activities. The N’Djam ter Tekan cooperative (117 members) of which he is the Secretary General, grows rice, eggplants, watermelons, etc. on 36 hectares. “It used to take an entire day to irrigate one hectare of farmland and prepare the soil for seeding. Now, we can work on up to three hectares per day,” he says.  

Providing water to address the challenges of climate change, strengthen food security, and promote prosperity and peace in communities.

Beyond irrigation, what is at stake throughout the vast Sahel, is a silent struggle to stem rural exodus. Lacking prospects, young people are tempted to migrate into big cities or to the West. The hope is to reunite women and men around their land, give them the tools to develop their holdings, and enable them to live and to prosper, at home. SIIP paves the way for greater ambitions: "We have already begun discussions with governments with a view to funding a new project in the sector, which should extend SIIP’s initiatives on a larger scale, with a view to achieving greater impacts," adds Chakib Jenane.