Cultivating with the Senegal River: empowering women farmers in Mbane and Thiago

This project is supported by “Teranga Venture Scaling”. The Senegal River is at the heart of life in delta communities: it irrigates the land, structures territories and directly conditions the livelihoods of hundreds of rural families. But this ecosystem is weakened. The commissioning of the Diama dam has eliminated natural floods that were leaching soils, leading to a gradual salinisation that threatens agricultural land and food security for communities along the river.

It is in this context that our initiative supports more than 400 women farmers in Mbane and Thiago, two villages in the delta whose 32 hectares of crops depend entirely on the waters of the river: directly via Lake Guiers for 9 hectares of Mbane, and through the Taouey Canal, connected to the Senegal River, for the 23 hectares of Thiago.

In Mbane, the results are already tangible: an IoT Safetrack system saves up to 30% of water withdrawn from the Lac de Guiers; 15 tons of cassava have been produced and marketed with a 48% increase in sales prices, and the use of compost combined with drainage actively fights soil salinization.

In Thiago, the failure of a pump fed by the Canal de la Taouey immobilized 23 hectares for two years. We have already started rehabilitating this critical infrastructure to enable agricultural recovery and secure access to water for women’s cooperatives. Finally, to strengthen the value chain, we have set up a processing unit at each of these sites.

Our initiative embodies a deep conviction: to live with the river, not against it. The women of Mbane and Thiago are the first guardians, living proof that sustainable agriculture and preservation of the Senegal River can, and must, go hand in hand.