Frustrations/Redefining Goals

After the Gnit visit and about midway through our interviews, we began to grow a bit frustrated with our activities as they had yet to take on any real shape.  Whether in Nder or Gnit, time and again we had to explain that no, we are not experts in organic agriculture; we merely seek to learn more about its potential in Senegal and promote it to the extent that we can. Our group had yet to give us any concrete goals we should work towards and the demands that were being placed upon us were wholly beyond our reach.  

We met with Thioye about the true potential of creating a community organic garden—an idea that had never surfaced in our meetings.  He encouraged us to forge ahead with the idea and go to the chief of the village and request a small piece of his land.  This setup would allow Maodo to both tend to his own fields and impart his knowledge about organic methods to those tending the community garden.

We also had to narrow our scope and recognize our limitations.  We could not get the entire village of Nder to start farming organically; we were just there to initiate what we broke down into a four-step process of organic proliferation, so to speak:

1)    Communal/Experimental garden providing all with the opportunity of viewing sustainable methods in action.  Children as primary beneficiaries.

2)    Organic cultivation on individual plots of land.

3)    Organic awareness—promoting the virtues of organic and identifying a market in which to sell organic produce.

4)    Distribution of organic produce—perhaps shipping directly to niche markets in Dakar/St. Louis and skipping over bana banas.



Organic Agriculture Discussion and Exchange Workshops
Village of Nder
April 13—18, 2005

Basic Goals:
•    Internalize concept and importance of organic agriculture

•    Exchange ideas about organic techniques

•    Create a basic plan for the garden and its management

•    Get an idea of what support they will need for the project and how we can help them find it


Workshop 1:  What is Organic Agriculture and Why?

•    Through a group brainstorm, we created a basic definition of organic agriculture.

Prompt: What do you know about organic agriculture?  What does “organic” mean?  What does “sustainable” mean?

•    We then discussed why farmers are adopting organic practices.

Prompt: Why isn’t conventional agriculture sustainable?
-    environmental factors
-    health factors
-    economic factors


Workshop 2:  Soil

•    Definition of soil

Prompt: What is soil and why is it important for farming?
-    Draw soil structure
-    Brainstorm functions of soil

1.    supports plants roots

2.    feeds plants with water and ions

3.    supports living things that transform vegetable debris into usable organic matter and other living things that transform organic matter into minerals

•    Soil quality in Nder

Prompt: What is the soil like in Nder?  What problems do you have with it?

•    Techniques for improving soil quality

Prompt: What techniques do we know of for improving the soil for agricultural purposes?
-    rotation of crops, including cover cropping
-    laying fields fallow
-    composting and use of animal waste
-    rizosphere
-    BRF


Workshop 3: Phytopathology and Biopesticides

•    Definition of phytopathology: the study of plant maladies during their growth but also the changes in

vegetable produce after harvesting

Problems can be caused by:
-    accidents
-    animals (insects, worms, mollusks)
-    parasites (viruses, bacteria, fungi)

•    Talked about non-parasitic maladies
-    caused by lack of essential minerals (macro or micro elements)
-    caused by abiotic physical factors

1.    temperature

2.    water

3.    wind

•    Talked about parasitic or biological maladies
- 50-65% are fungal
- 10-20% are viral
- 5-10% are bacterial
- 1-2% are phanerogames parasitic

•    Plant maladies in Nder

Prompt: What are the most common maladies that affect plant crops in Nder?

•    Examples of biopesticide techniques

Prompt: What are some examples of biopesticide techniques that we know?