Time to seed
The first rains are in the air...
The earthworks were completed on time; the sometimes very hard ground was torn up by two Delfino ploughs and made half-moons or deep trenches with a depth of 50 to 80 cm.
During the coming rainy season, 525 million litres of water will be held in these new areas and will no longer flow away to lower areas. The water is given time to slowly soak into the soil. Latent seeds that have sometimes been in the soil for more than 10 years are given a chance to germinate.
1250ha are now ready for sowing.
In total, 2270 kg of seeds and 5 tonnes of animal manure were purchased from the local population. Species sown: Acacia Raddiana, Acacia senegal, Acacia nilotica, Acacia mellifera, Balanites aegyptiaca, Zizyphus mauritania, Boscia senegalensis, Faidherbia albida, Adansonia digitata, Sclerocarya birrea, Piliostigma reticulatum, Combretum micranthum, Guiera senegalensis.
Under the direction of Bineta Kamara and the watchful eye of Saïdou Ba (agronomist), training sessions are held with sergeants, lieutenants and captains of Water and Forests. After that, she hopes for a good rainy season.
In the meantime, preparations are underway to fence off both sites to protect the new plantings from massive livestock pressure. But that's for another blog.
