Aquaculture: A Game Changer for Market Gardens

The members of our pilot gardens have mastered the aquaculture process, from fish breeding all the way through to harvest.

After two years of diligent work on our pilot aquaculture project, our team and partners agree: it is an absolute game changer for market gardens! We went into this project with high hopes but a healthy dose of skepticism. Would we be able to sustain perpetual production, could we develop sustainable supply chains for fish feed, and what would the impact be on the gardens’ precious water resources?

Carefully tracking the number, weight, and health of the fish enables participants to maximize growth and use fish feed most efficiently.

Watching our partners master the process and slowly answer these questions over the past two years has been incredible. The hard data shows the success in numbers; each of our pilot gardens have increased their yields and profits dramatically, all with zero net increase in water use. More importantly though, the participant testimonials show the real impacts:

“Our children and everyone in the house eats fish from the project now. We get money from the fish, and we use the water to irrigate our crops which helps them to grow. We really see the effect in the garden.”

— Koumba Daga, Irasso Garden participant

“We don’t trust the fish from the market. It comes from the ocean, and we don’t know how old it is. Now we have our own fish right here. We can go now and have it right away and cook it immediately. We thank god for this.”

— Racky Ndiaye, Lamarame Garden participant

Keur Soce High School joined the project as well this year with two fish basins in their new STEM teaching garden, and due to their quick success and all the benefits we’ve seen, Andando is now seeking to integrate fish farming into all of our gardens over the next several years.

Students learning hands-on aquaculture skills at the new STEM teaching garden at Keur Soce High School.

Thanks to a generous grant from The Tomberg Family Philanthropies, we are taking our first steps in this direction by extending the project to two gardens in our Podor region this year. With your support, we can expand even further and help our partners to gain greater food security, nutrition, and financial stability.

A member of the Keur Wack garden shows off her lettuce seedlings. All of our pilot gardens have increased their production of fast growing high value crops.

From the Director - October 2023

·       A potential new partner school in the neighboring commune of Ndiedieng, next to Keur Soce.

40 gardens, 14 health posts, 65 classrooms, 45 latrines, and over 2,000 microloans to date.  These numbers are impressive but what is the real limit of what we can do together?  How many more people can we reach?  How can we grow without losing the personal touch and care that has made Andando so uniquely successful?  What is next for Andando? These are questions that I ask myself constantly and with the completion of our 40th garden this feels like an important moment to step back, take stock, and share our vision for the future.  

Some of the amazing Podor team standing in front of our newly completed tree nursery, which will drastically increase the rate at which we can build new gardens.

It is nothing short of miraculous what Andando has been able to achieve over the past 15 years, but there is still so much more work to do. We’ve been in the incubator together, so to speak, building a community of supporters and developing our methods and partnerships.  What we do works, and we have a moral imperative now to reach as many communities in need as we can.

The incredible Keur Soce team after a strategic planning training this past August.

To this end we are investing in our local staff, who have always been key to our success, building their capacity and giving them the tools and training to tackle larger projects in the future.  We are working with regional government leaders to assess our current impacts and develop long-term plans to address the remaining needs in Keur Soce and Podor. And we are looking for Andando’s next region, or regions, to expand into, where our unique and dedicated approach can impact even more remote and neglected communities.  

Podor Tree Program Manager Alassane Ba (Gorgui), taking our new office computer for a test drive.

We are poised and ready to expand and there has never been a better, or a more needed time to support Andando.  Whether through the auction, monthly contributions, volunteering, or spreading the word, your support is not just another drop in the bucket, it directly impacts what we do every day and how big our vision for the future can be.

“Jéréjëf!” – Thank You!

- Garrison Harward, Executive Director

Update from the Field

I have just returned from Senegal and there is far too much good news to wait for the next newsletter!  We were fortunate to have good weather during the trip, not a guarantee in the rainy season, so we were able to see most of the new projects that we’re working on and how they’re coming together.  This is just a quick overview so stay tuned for more in-depth information soon on all of these amazing projects!

Garrison and Gorgui standing with our new deep borehole well in the desert.

In the Keur Soce area work is nearly complete on our first ever school garden at Keur Soce High School.  The fence, basins, and storehouse are done, leaving only the water connection to our nearby Thiako garden whose members are generously contributing their water to the school.  We are so excited that this will be the first high school in all of Senegal with an integrated aquaculture training program!  Work should be completed here by the end of the month, and we will share more pictures when classes start in October and garden activities begin.

The completed garden storehouse stands in front of the beautiful Keur Soce High School classrooms.

A fish basin inside Keur Soce High School Garden with Mandaw, Garden Program Manager.

Watering basins will be connected to the aquaculture system so that nutrient rich fish water can be used to water crops in the garden.

Renovations begin at Mbadhiou Peulh Primary School.

Also in Keur Soce we got to see the beginning of renovations of three classrooms at Mbadhiou Peulh Primary School.  The local municipal government is constructing two new classrooms here this year but didn’t have the means to upgrade the existing classroom building which has a leaking roof and cracked walls. So at the request of the village Andando stepped in to renovate the current classrooms so that all students will have a safe and proper learning environment for years to come.  We will also be adding a new block of latrines hare as well this fall!

Students from Mbadhiou Peulh Primary School in one of the classrooms that is now being renovated.

Adjacent to the existing classrooms is a temporary classroom where some students have to study in difficult conditions.

Due to the collaboration between the community and Andando all students will now study in proper safe and secure classrooms.

Madame Sekk, the head nurse of the regional hospital, facilitates a community meetings in the village of Bida in preparation to start construction on a new health post there.

In Podor we finished the selection process for our next health post which will be built in the rural community of Bida.  This village is dedicated to community health with several healthcare workers already operating a seasonal clinic here out of temporary structures which must be rebuilt each year.  We are proud to be working with such dedicated partners and can’t wait to see the impact that a proper health post will have on their ability to care for their community. We will share more about the incredible story of this village when we start construction here in November.

A boy from Togane stands with the papaya tree he helped plant this spring.

We are also nearly finished with construction on our new tree nursery and agroforestry center in Podor.  Our borehole well drilling was a complete success, and we now have a high output water source with a solar well pump system which will enable us to produce a minimum of 50,000 beneficial native trees here each year.  With these tree we will be able to speed up the implementation of new gardens and provide trees to all of our schools, health posts, and partner communities to bolster their food security, improve quality of life, and help them to restore the ecology of their lands. 

Photo Descriptions: 1) Clean fresh water flows from our new well in the Podor Tree Nursery. 2) Fruit tree seedlings in the Keur Soce Tree Nursery, which has started over 15,000 trees this year! 3) Podor Tree Nursery complete with basins, storehouse, water reservoir, solar panels, and restrooms. 4) A woman from Togane stands proudly with her Moringa trees. This is the first time that this village has ever had access to this miraculous and nutritious tree.

The children of Wouro Kelle verifying the water system. This garden draws water from the local river which turns brown from runoff during the rainy season.

Last but certainly not least we visited the community of Wouro Kelle to see the completion of Andando’s 40th garden!!  We are privileged to have this dedicated and deserving community join Andando at such a wonderful milestone and we can’t wait to share their story with you. Stay tuned for the next newsletter where we will profile Wouro Kelle and tell you more about the impact that this garden will have there. We would never have gotten to this point, or be able to reach such remote villages as this, without the steadfast support of our dedicated community of donors and volunteers over the past 15 years. Our hats off to you!

The women of Wourou Kelle celebrate the completion of their new garden.

It’s hard to believe but it’s already “Auction Season” for Andando, and if any of these projects resonated with you, please consider contributing in some way to help make the auction a success! We always have many more projects up for consideration than we can accomplish each year, and the success of the auction is the deciding factor on much of our yearly programing.  Whether you can help by volunteering, donating auction items, spreading the word to new potential donors, or attending and bidding on some of our amazing auction items, we appreciate your support so that we can continue this vital work in Senegal. 

Please consider contributing through our annual auction fundraiser. Whether you can help by volunteering, donating auction items, spreading the word to new potential donors, or attending and bidding on some of our amazing auction items, we appreciate your support so that we can continue this vital work in Senegal.  More info at www.andando.org/events.

From the Director - July 2023

We are on a roll! It feels appropriate that with the lush growth of another rainy season, so many projects are coming to fruition for Andando. 

The inauguration of Seno Bowal Health Post, Andando’s 14th overall.

Our Seno Bowal health post, Andando’s 14th overall, was officially inaugurated on May 10th, and the first baby was born there less than a month later! This post was entirely funded by generous donations from Hub City Church, and we are so proud to be partnering with them to create life saving access to maternal healthcare in rural communities. 

Midwives and nurses standing outside the newly renovated health post in Thiemene Taba.

We are thrilled to report that the repairs of our first health post, Thiamene Taba, are complete as well! Altrusa International of Albany helped us to realize this rapid response to the damage that occurred here during the last rainy season, ensuring that this post will continue to serve the area for years to come.

Drilling the borehole in Podor for the new native tree nursery.

In Podor we successfully drilled our first borehole well in the desert last month, which is a crucial milestone towards building our new native tree nursery and agroforestry center.  This location will soon produce 50,000 beneficial trees each year thanks to a grant from Rick Steve’s Europe!

Workers frame up the rebar for the concrete aquaculture basin in the Keur Soce High School STEM garden. Construction is nearly complete on our first-ever school garden at Keur Soce High School, which will be the first high school in all of Senegal with an integrated aquaculture training program.

Back in Keur Soce work is nearly finished on our first ever school garden at Andando’s Keur Soce High School, which will be the first high school in all of Senegal with an integrated aquaculture training program.  We are still seeking funding to hopefully build a laboratory, classroom, library, and computer lab to continue to support this amazing school.

Breaking ground at Andando’s 40th(!!) garden located in the extremely isolated community of Wouro Kelle.

And last but not least, in the community of Wouro Kelle we just broke ground on Andando’s 40th garden!  Wow!! We never could have gotten to this point without the generous support of so many amazing people who partner with us year after year to help the people of Senegal. On behalf of all of our staff and partner communities,

Andando Receives Grant from The International Foundation

The International Foundation has awarded a $25,000 grant to Andando! The purpose of this grant is to build an innovative STEM focused school garden at the newly constructed Keur Soce High School, which we finished building earlier this year. The International Foundation funds “US-based non-profit organizations who partner with poor communities in the developing world to improve their health, education and incomes, while strengthening local capacity to sustain their benefits.”

The first photo of the fully complete Keur Soce High School. These 8 classrooms serve over 1,000 students who previously had to travel far distances to continue their education or, more commonly, had to drop out of school due to a lack of resources.

This grant will help to pay for the construction of a substantial one-acre teaching garden that will be used to facilitate practical lessons in biological sciences, mathematics, and business skills while substantially improving the food security of the student population. 

Selecting a site with community leaders for the first-ever teaching garden which will be incorporated into the new Keur Soce High School.

In a first for any high school in Senegal the garden will also incorporate an integrated aquaculture fish farming system.  Fish are a staple of Senegalese cuisine and increased dry land fish farming has the potential to greatly benefit inland economies and food security without contributing to over-fishing of coastal water or polluting watersheds.  

During a hands-on training, participants in our aquaculture project learn how to assess fish for health and growth.

Andando currently operates 38 women’s cooperative gardens in Senegal which produce over 500,000 lbs. of organic produce each year.  As with our other gardens we will provide the school with a trained local garden technician to help to establish the garden and fully integrate it into school curriculum.     

“The International Foundation’s support will help students at Keur Soce High school to gain invaluable practical experience and learn skills that will set them apart as they continue their educational and professional careers.”

— Garrison Harward, Andando Executive Director

Madame Marone and her students in one of the new classrooms at Keur Soce High School. 

Indeed, due to Andando’s continued investment in this school the Education Ministry has decided to designate Keur Soce High School as a science academy that will feed directly into a new Agricultural University in the regional capital Kaolack.  Andando is proud to be partnering with such prestigious institutions to substantially increase the quality of science education in the region for years to come.  

Andando is a US-based non-profit organization that works to alleviate poverty through community development in rural Senegal. Learn more about Andando at www.andando.org.

About The International Foundation:
The International Foundation was created in 1948. Like other early foundations, our purpose was “to promote, foster, encourage and further non-profit, non-sectarian and non-political educational, medical, philanthropic, humanitarian, scientific and literary enterprises of all kinds.”

In its many years of grant making, the International Foundation has worked with thousands of US-based 501(c)3 organizations to bring knowledge, resources and compassion to individuals and communities around the world. Our strategic mission has evolved in concert with the exponential growth in the United States non-profit sector and rapid evolution of the discipline of international development.

“At the core of our mission is the concept that charity alone isn’t enough. We must take charity to a level that delivers measurable and sustainable change that is “owned” by the project participants and that leaves broad, lasting benefits. We prioritize the principles of self-determination, local engagement, and sustainability, both as means to and ends of our philanthropic goals. More and more, this requires grant-maker and grantee to share a common view of the challenges, optimal solutions, and ultimate objectives of our partnering efforts.”

We Have Fish!

A basket full of fish after a harvest complimented by a hearty lettuce harvest, grown using fish water.

It is our absolute pleasure to report that our trial fish farming project is thriving! Earlier this year we reported on the beginnings of this process, but to be honest we really didn’t know how it would turn out. There were challenges but overall, our team has done a tremendous job and we couldn’t be prouder of them and the women in the gardens for picking up such a unique and difficult new skill! 

During a hands-on training, participants in our aquaculture project learn how to assess fish for health and growth.

On a recent visit we got to witness the first fish harvest and the results are incredible. There is nothing quite like seeing buckets of fish (over 250lbs) coming out of our gardens in the middle of the desert. It was a wonderful scene of excitement, singing, dancing, joking, everything you would expect at the culmination of a challenging but successful project. Here’s some of what the women had to say that day:

“We used to work hard before but now with the fish program, we really see ourselves succeeding in the garden.”

“Look at the eggplants!  We noticed for three years we haven’t had eggplants, but now we do because of the fish water.”

“There is a start, but there is no end to our happiness.”

Garden participants introducing the first new fingerlings produced in our own fish tanks.

It is hard to describe the importance of fish in Senegal and how meaningful it is for the women to be able to provide fresh, healthy fish for their families. This is of course the first and most noticeable benefit but the women also remarked on how watering with the fishpond water is improving vegetable production across the whole garden as well. Indeed, our aquaculture gardens saw an average 42% increase in individual profits this year compared to the same 6-month period last year! WOW!

During a hands-on training, participants in our aquaculture project learn how to harvest fish from the basins.

All four gardens that participated in this pilot program are continuing to raise fish and now that the tilapia are successfully reproducing in the basins, we are very close to having self-replicating, sustainable production that can continue for years to come.

From the Team - July 2022

A rare moment when three of our US-based staff (Lewis, Garrison, and Crystal) are in Senegal at the same time.

We had the rare pleasure of having three of our US-based staff in Senegal at the same time! This allowed us to dive deep with our team on the ground there and make BIG plans for the future.

We were honored to help cut the ribbon at the official opening ceremony for Keur Soce High School!

Keur Soce High School is finishing up its first year of classes, and with enrollment increasing we finalized plans with the administration to construct an additional two classrooms to meet their current need. We also discussed the possibility of adding a school garden in the future with an attached science classroom to help boost their science curriculum.

After only six months since launching the aquaculture program, the fish are big enough to harvest. Each of the pilot gardens received advanced training, which will help them move towards self-sufficiency and reap the maximum benefits from the project.

In the gardens, we got to witness the first fish harvest from our pilot aquaculture program! The women and technicians have worked so hard to learn this new skill, and we couldn’t be happier to celebrate their success with them.

Fresh fish is hard to come by in these arid regions of Senegal. But now garden participants enjoy the nutritional benefits of fresh fish while also seeing their gardens bursting through the use of water from the fish ponds for their plants.

In Podor we met with local leaders to plan a permanent tree nursery which will allow us to grow thousands of beneficial trees where they are desperately needed.

These trees will become live fencing that will protect gardens from animals and wind. Over time metal fencing deteriorates, but live fencing is sustainable and provides long-term protection while helping to improve the soil.

These are just a few examples of the amazing things our team is working on, and we are so excited to see these programs continue to grow and thrive.

From all of us, “Jéréjëf!” – Thank You!

From the Director - Thank You!

Surveying a new garden site with Boubou, Senegal Country Director.

Visiting Senegal last month, I was able to see firsthand the impact that you all have made this past year. Despite the challenges, we made huge strides in our efforts with the establishment of new gardens, increased capacity at many schools, and broadened access to healthcare.

Racky (pictured center) is President of the Lamarame Market Garden, one of four gardens participating in our aquaculture trial project (see page two for more).

Last month, you heard the story of Racky (pictured above) and I had the chance to visit with her again. It is astonishing to see her strength and resilience, and there are hundreds more stories like hers. These folks are paving their own path toward a better future, and we are so fortunate to be a part of it. 

In 2022, we plan to build on these successes with five new community gardens, more classrooms to empower young students, and building a healthier population. Your contribution makes these programs possible, and the Senegalese send along a BIG “Jerejef!” – Thank you!

Lewis Kiker, Executive Director

Farming Fish...in the Desert?

Readying the basins for the fish, part of a trial aquaculture project in four of our well- established gardens.

During our latest trip to Senegal, Garrison and Lewis worked with our Senegal staff to add yet another exciting element to four of our gardens near Keur Soce - Aquaculture!  In a partnership with the Auburn University, that started in 2019, we are embarking on a trial fish farming project to raise Tilapia and Clarias Catfish in the gardens. 

Filling the two large basins that will be home to Tilapia and Clarias Catfish in the gardens.

Fish are an essential part of daily life in Senegal and while dried fish are readily available throughout the country, fresh fish can sometimes be scarce in inland areas.  Producing fish locally is a wonderful addition to food security and our nutrition objectives.

Adjusting the flow rate of the drain in the bottom of the basin.

Digging the pipline that will take water from the fish basin to the garden watering basin.

But where does one get baby fish in Senegal?  Well, as with most things, you gotta know a guy.  Fish farming isn’t commonplace yet in Senegal but it does exist and there is a small network of fish producers around the country.  Our coordinator from Auburn gave us a list of phone numbers and that’s all we needed. 

Transporting fish in the back of a truck to the garden.

Weighing one of the catfish to track growth.

Naturally none of those contacts had any fish available but believe in the magic of Senegal and our Country Director Boubou!  He connected the dots from one person to the next until just a few days later, as if by magic it seemed, we were driving into town with 500 fingerlings in the back of the truck!  We introduced the fish into the basins to the general amazement from everyone, ourselves included. 

The significance of what this could mean for the gardens wasn’t lost on anyone and both the technicians and the women in the gardens were eager and attentive as we explained the project. 

Testing and maintaining an appropriate pH level will ensure a healthy living environment for the fish.

Women of the Lamarame Market Garden

We left everything in their capable hands and a month later we are happy to report that the fish are doing great!  This is only the beginning.  We’ll keep you updated as the fish grow and we see the many benefits they bring.