In 2012, the Le Kaicedrat association built a medical centre in Bala, in one of the driest and poorest regions of Senegal, 60km from the town of Tambacounda. This centre is the most renowned in the region. It meets a real need for the people of eastern Senegal, the vast majority of whom are rural, living in difficult conditions with severe climatic constraints, few financial resources and rare and distant access to healthcare. Its ambition is to raise the standard of health of rural populations, in particular by relying on 2 mobile teams covering 40 villages within a radius of 10 to 40 km around Bala.
With the support of The Ivory Foundation, Kaicedrat has been able to develop several gardens in the villages visited by this mobile team, involving the women of these villages and providing them with training in agroecology and agroforestry. To complete this scheme, The Ivory Foundation has chosen to create a pilot garden at Bala, within the medical centre, dedicated to the production of organic seeds, which will provide seeds for the populations of the villages visited by the mobile team.
The Bala medical centre has made an 800m2 plot of land available for the garden.
The Ivory Foundation financed the installation of a 200m2 greenhouse, the purchase of tools and the salary of the gardener, Abdourahmane. Abdourahmane was chosen for his seriousness, motivation, interest in agro-ecology and proximity (he lives in Bala).
In June 2021, we planted seeds selected by Agrosemens, a partner in the semencir project. The varieties tested were chosen for their a priori adaptation to the soil and climate conditions of West Africa. The crops were planted during the rainy season.
Work on the garden was carried out during the summer of 2021. Initially, the land needed to be completely cleaned and weeded before the beds could be planted and the greenhouse installed.
Since 2021, The Ivory Foundation has extended its action by supporting 5 villages on the outskirts of the Bala medical centre and helping them to set up their own market gardens. These are among the 20 villages visited by the mobile team from the Le Kaicedrat association, supported by the Fund. This mobile team enables a midwife and a nurse to visit pregnant women to monitor their pregnancies.
Abdhouramane, the gardener in charge of the Bala garden, accompanies the mobile team’s tour to monitor the gardens with the women’s groups set up in each of the three villages to run the gardens.
