By BRAD BERGEFURD
Ohio Farm News 

The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) promotes and facilitates international activities for faculty and staff through collaborative research and teaching with worldwide educational institutions and organizations.

These educational partnerships are designed to help improve agriculture, natural resources and food systems locally, regionally and around the world, as well as enrich communities at the Ohio State University, Ohio and beyond.

One such project has been an agricultural development project in the Northern Africa country of Senegal to develop food-production capabilities in an environmentally sustainable manner by ensuring the continent’s food security, economic development and political stability.

An irrigation project by the World Bank created 1,400 hectares of newly irrigated land to be farmed by 243 village farmers on small two- to five-hectare plots. However, the availability of irrigated land solves only part of the problem.

New farmers need technical assistance and education to make sustainable agriculture a reality in Northern Senegal.

The objective of this project is to implement agricultural education and extension programs at the University of Gaston Berger (UGB) in Saint-Louis, Senegal, focused on enhancing sustainable agriculture in this fragile Sub-Saharan African agroecosystem. Activities have included implementing a pilot extension and outreach program with the village farmers working the newly irrigated land, troubleshooting problems, and conducting farm research and grower education.

An immediate problem village farmers face is the amount of time it takes to plant plots of land of up to five hectares, which are much larger than typical Senegalese farms. A farmer is able to transplant 15 plants per minute by hand and about 9,880 tomato plants are needed for one hectare.

"I have concern about being able to transplant the plants when they are ready before the rains come," said Aliou Fall, a Senegalese village farmer.

Project partner Brad Bergefurd, who is an OSU Extension Horticulture Specialist, is introducing village farmers to mechanical transplanters, inexpensive machines that can plant 50 plants per minute, dramatically reducing the amount of time needed to plant a field.

Bergefurd purchased two transplanters with grant funds and had them shipped to Senegal. He taught field demonstrations and conducted grower training throughout the sub-Saharan region beginning in 2012. The learning opportunity created by the partnership left an impression on the attendees.

"Not only is it fast, but the rows are perfectly straight, I hope to someday use a transplanter in my fields," said El Hardj Dia, a Senegalese village farmer.

At a time when Senegal is working toward self-sufficiency and food security, the region is facing mass exodus of its rural population to cities, resulting in farm labor shortages. Mechanization of the most labor-intensive aspects of vegetable production is enabling village farmers to take advantage of the newly irrigated land despite the labor shortage, thereby helping to provide country-wide food security and increased, stable family incomes.

Dr. Mateugue Diack, partnership director and faculty member at UGB, considers the wider impact of the training and opportunity for sustainability.

"This simple machine has the potential to transform farming not only in Senegal, but across West Africa, enabling Africa to rely less on imports, and increase our ability to export Senegalese produce to Europe," he said.

If you are interested in learning more about this Senegal agricultural development project visit www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/ugb-senegal/t01_pageview3/Home.htm

For information on other international agricultural development programs being offered by Ohio State University’s CFAES, visit http://cfaes.osu.edu/international or contact Bergefurd by email at Bergefurd.1@osu.edu or call the OSU South Centers 1-800-860-7232 or 740-289-2071, extension 132.