We had a Sustainable Agriculture summit a few weeks ago. We have one of these every 6 months, typically in different areas around the country. This last summit, we were in Tambacounda, a far outpost in eastern Senegal. We had a field trip on the last day to visit the Master Farmer's farm not far out of town. The night before the field trip, Massaly, our director, called the volunteer living out there and asked if she had another garden we could tour. She said yes.
Massaly had never toured this garden, never heard of this man. We walked into his walled garden area and were completely blown away. He had an orchard of mangoes and citrus. There was heavy mulching under the trees and alley crops of cucumber and melon between the trees. He had conducted a small experiment for himself and discovered that the trees with vegetables grown between them in the off-season had a higher survival rate and more vigorous growth than the trees with no alley cropping of vegetables. He was using improved technologies, like a generator and pump at his well. He had also purchased a drip irrigation system to use for his vegetables in the dry season. Massaly couldn't get over how beautiful this field was. He kept asking questions. Come to find out this man has 3 other hectare-sized fields just like this one.
Finally, Massaly asked him where he first learned the mulching and alley cropping technologies.
Apparently there was a volunteer placed in a nearby village in 1993. She was the one who mentioned these techniques to the farmer and helped him out.
Massaly wrote down her years of service, her Senegalese name, and the village she was posted to.
He's going to try to contact her and let her know the difference she has made in this one man's life and his livelihood.
One person. And now he's a very successful farmer and well-respected and listened to in the community.
One person is all the PCV has to reach, that person can reach the rest.
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