Centre International Développement Agropastoral (CIDAP)

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Centre International Développement Agropastoral (CIDAP)

Togo
Project Stage:
Scaling
Budget: 
$1,000 - $10,000
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Project Summary
Elevator Pitch

Concise Summary: Help us pitch this solution! Provide an explanation within 3-4 short sentences.

Tiyeda has laid the foundation for the revival of a creative and forward thinking agropastoral approach to small scale farming in Togo and the neighboring central Sahel. Her work has been built upon the principles of organic and sustainable cultivation. With a series of critical foundation steps now in place, Tiyeda wants to take the next step in her work: to go beyond the replication of the work she has done and launch a Sahel-wide youth movement to bring young people back to "abandoned land" and make it suitable for small scale agropastoral production.

About Project

Solution: What is the proposed solution? Please be specific!

After diligently working to demonstrate a process of how previously marginal lands can be reclaimed and reincorporated into productive farming areas, Tiyeda was finally able to get the government buy-in that resulted in the widespread adoption of her model in Togo. Curricula of agricultural schools, as well as that of the national university in Togo, all now teach its students how to become successful small scale farmers based on the principles of organic and sustainable cultivation –on lands that have been previously considered “unusable” for a host of reasons, including drought. With a critical mass of graduates now returning to farming communities in Togo, and with interest coming from neighboring countries to establish similar schools, Tiyeda is now focusing on uniting these young people in a regional network through which they can play an active role in spreading this message to the furthest reaches of the Sahel. Everywhere struggling farmers and former farmers find themselves unable to make living as previously fertile lands lay dormant, this network of young people will demonstrate and teach others that bio-farming is indeed the tool for reviving discarded lands. More importantly, they will work together to continue incorporating even more nuanced ideas that may already be floating around the Sahel and those who possess these ideas into a cohort that can influence their respective governments and the general population to embrace their vision of a new, rejuvenated, and sustainable small scale commercial farming industry that raises the standard of living of those currently teetering on the edge of poverty.