We-Are-The Solution Campaign: West African Peasants’ Seeds Fair held on 23-25 March, 2016 at Djimini,Senegal

The West African Peasants’ Seeds Fair took place on 23-25 March,2016 at Djimini, a village in the southern part of Senegal. Fahamu’s We-Are-the-Solution Programme took part as exhibitor and participant via two Senegalese women groups. There were more than 350 participants from Senegal, Benin, Mali, Togo, Guinea, and Mauritania of which more than 75% were women and 85% were typical peasant farmers.

The participants discussed crop biodiversity, food systems and nutrition.

Peasants’ generosity was demonstrated once again with their willingness to share knowledge, practices, seeds and natural pesticides for both humans and animals.

The recommendations from the fair were :

– To strengthen vitality of West African Committee of Peasant’s seeds in the region

– To fight for the recognition of peasants seeds systems

– To communicate as much as possible about traditional seeds for food sovereignty and nutrition

The peasants amplified the need for seed ownership by the farmers and a stronger campaign for food sovereignty within the peasant farmers.