In the Podor region of northern Senegal, along the Senegal River valley, farmers are dependent on the tides. The river banks flood for two months every year, but as they recede, farmers ingeniously manage the floodwaters to turn otherwise arid lands into nutrient-rich soils, ready for planting. These floodplains can extend 10 km on either side of the river – rich farmlands, managed primarily by women farmers…for now.

Senegal is a major West African port, with a robust export market. Pressure from companies hoping to dominate urban food markets is converting small-scale farms here into large fields of single-variety crops. Many small-scale farmers have already sold their lands or are growing cash crops – but the women of the region have different ideas.

With USC support, a women farmer’s group is encouraging communities to maintain the crop diversity of traditional floodplain agriculture, enhancing the diversity of their maize, sorghum, and vegetables fields in the process. The group has established a gene bank for floodplain crop varieties – a first step in recovering lost diversity and encouraging farmers to value and enhance this unique production system.

At the same time, the group has starting to engage communities in a broader debate about what’s at stake. They aim to convince local decision-makers to recognize the value of traditional floodplains agriculture as a basis for the livelihoods of farm families.