Tag: Bandafassi

The change in rainfall at Bandafassi is a crucial issue in terms of climate resilience, particularly in terms of adapting the sowing calendar. Fonio is sown according to anticipated rainfall, which sometimes turns out to be wrong, with significant effects on yield. This video shows the different stages in the fonio harvest in our villages. This is the harvesting of

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The photo shows a field of millet, but millet farming is disappearing in Bandafassi because of the lack of rain. Millet used to be the main source of food, and it is also very important culturally. It is used for celebrations: beer is made from it for traditional Malinké and Bedik ceremonies, and the stalks are used in the dance

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In Bedik culture, if there is an iniation on Wednesday, the girls go to fetch water. Before, this was done on the mountain, there were water points, but now with climate change, it is difficult to find water in Ethiouar, they are obliged to go down to fetch water, and come and do the cultural practices at the top of

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From 9 to 12 January 2023, an advocacy workshop organised within the framework of the Watigueleya Kêlé project took place in Tambacounda (Senegal). This workshop brought together delegates from the three Senegalese villages participating in the project (Bandafassi, Missirah Tabadiang, and Wassadou-Dépôt), supervised by the Donkosira team, and the advocacy expert Illia Djadi. The objective of the workshop was to

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We are in Iden Karfa, in the Ethiouar district, in Bandafassi. This water point used to be used as a drinking water source for the people of this neighbourhood, in this case the Bédik people. Ten years ago, the water remained here until November-December. Today, we see that at the end of October, beginning of November, the water runs dry.

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“I don’t know if you know the place there, the place called Kuga. We used to draw water from there, but now there is no water. The old people who used to live here say that people used to draw water from there, but look at today, there’s not even any water. It’s amazing. Even if you dig, you can’t

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In this video, we see a Bedik woman making canaris. She explains that she takes the land up the mountain, that it is not just any land: it is land that was bought by their grandparents at the cost of their lives. Now, every time she digs the land to make canaris, they have to pay a goat, a chicken

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It rained this year but not like other years. The rain started early but there were breaks in the rainfall, so it did not rain continuously. This discouraged many farmers. Then the rain came back but it was a bit late. For those who sowed at that time, the seedlings did not reach maturity, so the groundnuts and maize did

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Here we have a young man who went to harvest the fonio. He’s mowing the fonio and putting it down. The others are going to take it to tie it up. I also have another video which shows the young people picking up what they have cut to tie it up.

Fonio is one of the cereals whose cultivation is essential in West African food agriculture. Shelling this small cereal is a time-consuming task, traditionally carried out by women.