Africa-Press – Senegal. The Japanese Ambassador to Senegal, Osamu Izawa, reaffirmed, on Tuesday, his country’s option to place human contact and personal exchanges at the heart of bilateral cooperation between Dakar and Tokyo.
“I am very satisfied with the results of this agricultural project and its impact on the lives of the beneficiaries. This reflects Japan’s approach of emphasizing human contact and personal exchanges at the heart of bilateral cooperation with the Senegalese authorities,” said the Japanese diplomat.
The project in question is implemented by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) through « mura no murai », an apolitical organization created in 1993 by a group of Japanese volunteers, he said while visiting a farm- school located in Bagana wolof in the municipality of Nguéniène, in the department of Mbour.
The project promotes “environmentally friendly agriculture”. It should allow in the long term an « improvement of farming techniques by drawing inspiration from the agricultural experiences of Asian countries », underlined the Japanese diplomat.
He particularly insisted on the importance that his country attaches to the “training of quality human resources and the transfer of skills” in its approach to official development assistance.
« The farm-school extends over an area of three hectares and houses agricultural and poultry activities, but also livestock and market gardening, » explained Mamadou Ndiaye, one of the local project managers.
Speaking of « proven experiences » in mastering agricultural techniques, he noted that the farm has trained some 29 farmers from surrounding villages on techniques to combat soil salinization and water management, by providing them with provision of teaching materials written in Wolof and French
The project started in 2021 in a context of declining soil fertility, due to salinization in the area. He « taught us another approach to agriculture by mastering crop rotation », rejoiced Souleymane Bakhoum, one of the beneficiaries. He is also pleased with an “increase in his income”, with the added bonus of “sustainable soil management and water control. »
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