Diokhar and Nobandane seed farms – Mbour, Senegal
Since 2019, The Ivory Foundation and Agrosemens have joined forces with APAF Senegal to develop a local production chain for reproducible farmers’ seeds. This project was launched at the Diokhar farm near Mbour. Since 2021, a second farm in the nearby village of Nobandane has added to the project’s production capacity.

The Diokhar farm
Thanks to the digging of a well connected to a solar pump financed by The Ivory Foundation in 2019, the farm has become a small oasis in the middle of the desert. The entire area is cultivated using agroforestry principles.

The Nobandane farm
A second greenhouse tunnel was installed during the summer of 2021 by The Ivory Foundation on the Nobadane farm, located 10km from Diokhar. This is a village in the commune of Loul Sesséne in the Fatick region, on the border with the department of Mbour. The two farms are run by two farmers who are members of the APAF network and are supported by the APAF technician, Ndeye Fatou Ndiaye, who is responsible for monitoring seed production.

Seed production chain
The aim of these actions is to set up a vegetable seed production chain adapted to Senegal’s territorial and socio-economic context. There is no structured quality farmers’ seed production chain in the country.

In 2021, a new production protocol was drawn up with APAF and Agrosemens.
 The varieties to be grown have been chosen for their a priori adaptation to the soil and climate conditions of West Africa, as well as to local needs in terms of taste quality. A double test will be carried out:

A varietal test on 50% of the plants: the varieties will be studied for their vegetable production, according to specific criteria.
And seed production on the remainder: plants will be selected to be grown to maturity and harvested as seeds according to a technical itinerary defined by Agrosemens. The seeds will be threshed and dried on site, and the batches will be traced with specific identification.

  • Find out more about the Diokhar & Nobandane

Planting courgettes in Sandiare

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As part of the seed project involving Agrosemens, APAF and The Ivory Foundation, Thieleme, the technician in charge of greenhouses in the Mbour region, planted courgette seedlings in the Sandiare and Nobadane greenhouses. The varieties were selected to best suit … Read More

Nobadane seed farm

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The Nobadane seed farm is one of three seed production sites operated by Apaf in collaboration with The Ivory Foundation and Agrosemence. It includes a greenhouse and outdoor section where onions are grown for seed production. The greenhouse has been … Read More

Preparing the cultivation beds at the Sandiare farm

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As part of the seed project involving Agrosemens, APAF and The Ivory Foundation, a new greenhouse has been set up at Sandiara to complete the production system, giving priority to one variety per species at each site, in order to limit … Read More

Visit and training at the Diokhar farm (Senegal)

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The Diokhar farm is the site where the local seed production project was launched in 2019 by APAF Senegal with the support of The Ivory Foundation and Agrosemens. As this project is intended to be developed on two other sites … Read More

Nobadane Greenhouse Installation – Senegal

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The Nobadane farm is located 10km from Diokhar.  In order to increase the production of seed farms in the MBour region, the Ivory Foundation financed the construction of an additional greenhouse of 200m2. APAF has identified one of its agroforestry … Read More

Visit and training at the Diokhar farm – Senegal

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The Diokhar farm is the site where the local seed production project was launched in 2019 by APAF Senegal with the support of The Ivory Foundation and Agrosemens. As this project is intended to be developed on two other sites … Read More