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The 9th World Water Forum opens today in Dakar, Senegal. A major international event on water and sanitation management taking place for the first time in sub-Saharan Africa. A resource that is gradually running out in the Niayes market gardening area, nicknamed the breadbasket of Senegal, on the coast regarding a hundred kilometers north of the Senegalese capital. There, some producers then chose to change their practices.
With our correspondent in Dakar, Thea Olivier
Between dunes of white sand, Samba Dia has planted dozens of fruit trees. Lemon trees, papaya trees, avocado trees, banana trees that need to be watered regularly to survive, worries the producer.
Before, we used to dig and there was water. But now it’s going down, so we’re forced to drill small holes, up to 20 meters deep, where there’s enough water. The decreasing rainfall every year is worrying
New techniques to better manage water use
Faced with the drop in the water table, Thierno Gningue, producer since 2017, decided to use a sprinkling irrigation technique, with strips that pass between his crops, with holes every 20 centimeters and which let water escape. fine drops in jet.
« With this technique, I saved water and even fuel, says the farmer. With the spear, I noticed that we use a lot of water, three or four times as much. Where I put mulch, it tends to keep moisture and I can stay for 3 or 4 days without watering. »
Further in another field, a drip system was installed to grow watermelons associated with bitter eggplants. Omar Diop has been trying this technique for almost a year.
The drip, we can do it so as not to waste water because we fear a water problem with the dunes that surround us. We try to do with a drip and we reduce the water supply a little
Reforestation as a solution to the lack of water
To deal with this tension around the availability of water, a ” local platform was created in the Mboro area, in particular in partnership with various state institutions. The idea is that the players consult on the rational use of this resource. A platform chaired by Medoune Loum.
If we want to encourage farmers to use the new systems, namely sprinklers or drips, this water will have to be free of iron or other elements that might clog the water pipes. watering. We know that when the water table drops, seawater seeps in. People have abandoned their crops because of the salinity of the water. The groundwater needs to regenerate, for it to regenerate it needs rain, and to get rain, you need to reforest
Five thousand plants are already growing in the nursery for the next reforestation campaign.