Women's Community Gardens in Niger

The Nassile student garden is just one of many gardens put in place to help the surrounding communities. The gardens are producing many fruits and vegetables some of which are tomato, cucumber, melon, sweet pepper, cabbage, carrot, and watermelon. The student garden is drip irrigated. The hope is that the women and students will be able to harvest all year round in the future. The students are mentored by women who watch over them. Mentors make sure that the children stay in school and work with them towards a better future. There are five mentors at the Nassile site.

                 There is a community garden that will be put into installation as well. Thirty-seven women will be working in the garden. They will divide the garden into one hundred and five sections, each woman will give back a small portion of their crops to the school and the garden committee. This is to ensure that the garden can be self-sustained by the workers without outside intervention.

 “On one bed of melon we counted 183 fruits. Assuming that it is sold for CFA 200 each this is CFA 36600 from only one bed. The minimum we can get from this garden is US$1000 if the production is sold properly. The cucumber was harvested and we got 23Kg from one bed. It was harvested too late when it started to be too big and bitter. They took it to the Tomboley market and sold for CFA 2000. The remaining quantity was prepared for the Nassile school students.” - Iddal Sidi Mohamed of RAIN.

                In the hot sun of the Sahara having access to water is key. As the need for water expands it adds to tensions between the gardens the school and the community. Clean water, food and education are the most important tools for the communities. In order for the community to have access to more food and opportunities, the gardens are essential. A balance is needed for both the community and the garden, in order to have sustainability.