Case studies
CIRAWA puts people and ecosystems at the centre to help create more resilient food systems in eight regions in Cape Verde, Ghana, Senegal, and The Gambia.
Cape Verde
The Cape Verde (587,925 inhabitants) archipelago is made up of 10 islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The country imports more than 80% of its food and only 10% of the country’s surface is used for agriculture.
CIRAWA will implement experimental agroforestry systems in the region of Maio Island to ensure increased agricultural productivity, soil conservation and reduce water consumption. The project will also work in the region of Santo Antão to reduce the negative impact of “mil-pes” crop disease, responsible for large agricultural losses.
Phytoremediation
Agrowaste Valorisation
Ghana
Ghana (32,833,031 inhabitants) is a West-African country located over the Gulf of Guinea. In Ghana, small size farms make up 95% of cultivated land and more than half of the country’s labour force is in agriculture.
CIRAWA will conduct fertility studies, produce innovative composts, bio-based fertilisers and materials for household energy production and support soil conservation and crop management practices in the Central Gonja District in the Northern Region and the Nabdam District in the Upper East Region.
Phytoremediation
Agrowaste Valorisation
Senegal
Senegal (16,876,720 inhabitants) is located in the West-African Atlantic coast. The country has been declared highly vulnerable to climate change. Recent years have been marked by erratic rainfall patterns and rising sea-levels which are increasing the rates of soil erosion and salinization in agricultural soils.
CIRAWA will build on agroecological living-labs already established in the regions of the Senegal River Valley and the central-West zone to add to experimental agroforestry systems such as integrated soil salinity reclamation strategies involving phytoremediation.
Phytoremediation
Agrowaste Valorisation
The Gambia
The Gambia (2,639,916 inhabitants) is a West-African country located in the Atlantic coast, crossing Senegal. In The Gambia, the influx of green revolution varieties in the 1980s virtually wiped-out indigenous seed varieties of rice and maize and trapped many farmers into a cycle of dependency on imported seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and machinery.
CIRAWA will foster high quality seeds production and multiplication, soil conservation and crop management practices, and production of bio-based materials for household energy production in the North Bank and the Central River regions.
Phytoremediation
Agrowaste Valorisation
