Plant Resources of Tropical Africa

Like most areas in the Sahel, Séguénéga district in Burkina Faso experiences a long dry season of up to eight months annually. Farmers lack the money to afford irrigation equipment that could be used to produce crops off-season. In April 2006 PROTA started a project aimed at producing vegetables in the dry season using small-scale irrigation, in collaboration with the Association pour le Développement Economique Culturel et Social du département de Séguénéga (ADECUSS).

President of the Management Committee Hadj Belem Sawadogo shows a dish made from the leaves of cowpea.

Sixty members of three women groups in Séguénéga village are now able to grow two important vegetables, cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) and roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa), all-year-round using water stored in a well drilled in June 2006.

The funds were used to purchase irrigation equipment, tools and farm inputs like fertilizer and vegetables seeds. The women were also able to buy solar driers to preserve the surplus vegetables for future use.