The Okra Harvest

Pierre Faye - Posted on March 6, 2009

Last month you read about the cucumbers of hope. This month we are going to share with you the harvest of another important food in Tattaguine. The okra, along with the cucumbers, is a plant the farmers of Tattaguine are growing in a garden project, installed thanks to the support of World Vision. The harvest is an exciting moment for the 50 farmers who have worked so hard to make it happen.

Doudou, 13, is in his father’s field giving a hand. Kids of Tattaguine are the luckiest at this time of the year. Fresh okras been harvested in the dry season. No one ever imagined they could have a harvest in dry season. The drip irrigation project has allowed this unbelievable farming revolution in Tattaguine.

This is the sixth time the farmers are harvesting the okras they have grown in their gardens. They started harvesting on February 1. The farmers come in horse carts, aided by their family members to harvest.

In the shopping room, built in front of the garden, the traders are waiting by the scales to buy their crops. The okras are then brought to Dakar, the capital city, and sold in the markets. At this period of the year, okras are scarce in the markets. That’s why the garden project, with the drip irrigation system, is a technological revolution.

“I have harvested about 132 pounds [and I sold it] for $92.” Moreover, I am cooking good dishes with the okras for my family,” Coumba Diouf says.

It’s so impressive when you see the horse carts and the farmers scattered in the 12.5 acre field, everyone in their own plot of land harvesting. Those who finish working go straight to the shopping room. The women, with big sacks carried on their heads, their babies wrapped steadily on their backs, the sweat twinkling on their faces, walk towards the traders.

They line up and wait their turn to weight to know exactly the quantity harvested. Ferdinand is following the transaction and keeps in her book all the records. She is the manager of the project, hired thanks to World Vision.

“I come to help my dad harvest as we did not have class today,” Doudou says.

“Since market gardening activities have been started, many things have changed in the lives of the children. Cases of malnutrition have become very scarce. Our children have enough food and our wives are making delicious dishes,” Semou Diouf, the father of Doudou adds.

After the cucumbers that have been already harvested earlier this year, this is a second opportunity to have cash money and fresh vegetables for the family for the fifty farmers participating in the project and their families.

Such innovation in farming methods has a tremendous impact on the lives of the villagers who used to go to Dakar right after the rainy season to look for work to be able to earn money. Staying at home, getting cash and vegetables for your family, is possible thanks to the irrigation project.

“I have paid everything my son, Doudou, needs for school thanks to this project. With heartfelt thanks I pray for the initiators, World Vision and all the partners who are supporting the project,” says Semou.

Doudou is so happy his father is staying in the village rather than going to Dakar and being able to buy everything he needs for school. This project has enlightened the days of the community whose hope is rising up every day. The most skeptical people have seen the results and too are motivated to stay in their community, working hard for the betterment of their children.

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