FAO's sack gardens effectively improve the resilience of internally displaced people
In Mali, FAO is supporting displaced populations by providing emergency food production kits that enable them to quickly produce their own food within host communities.
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A participant in the FAO project with the sack gardens he set up.
©FAO/Mohamed Cissé
Since 2012, insecurity, which was initially localized in northern and central Mali, began affecting the entire country, forcing rural populations to move. As a result, they lose access to arable land and struggle to meet their basic food needs, while being unable to rebuild their productive assets in the host areas where they settle. As of February 2022, nearly
160 000 people from the Mopti region and 100 000 from the Gao region were registered as internally displaced persons (IDPs), making these two areas the most heavily affected by the phenomenon.
To address the urgent needs of IDPs, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has launched the project "Emergency Food Production for Internally Displaced Persons and Other Vulnerable Persons in Crisis Regions", with European Union financing amounting to USD 669 642. The project was implemented from 1 June 2022 to
31 March 2023. Its objective was to support IDPs and host community members through the implementation of emergency food production activities, so as to reduce their exposure to food insecurity.
Finding refuge in host communities
Ouattagouna is a commune in the District of Ansongo, located in the Gao Region of northeastern Mali. The increased insecurity in the area has forced many families to leave their homes. They travelled more than 170 km across the Sahara in extreme conditions to reach the village of Bagoundje in the rural commune of Gounzoureye, where they received food aid from the World Food Programme. However, in order to cover their basic food needs in the long term and on their own, these households needed access to arable land to revive their agricultural activities.
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A project participant in Bagoundje 2 village, delighted with his onion crops, sown thanks to the inputs he received. ©FAO/Mohamed Cissé
Reviving food production through the establishment of sack gardens
At the Bagoundje 2 site, FAO distributed emergency food production kits to 25 vulnerable households, including 15 displaced people and 10 members of the host community. These kits were made up of vegetable seeds (amaranth, cabbage, okra, onion and tomato), organic manure, agricultural tools (shovels, watering cans, dabas [traditional hoes], picks and hoes) and other small equipment, allowing them to set up the gardens in sacks. In addition, the village chief provided the project participants with a fenced area of 0.25 ha, to allow them to carry out their market gardening activities without the risk of damage caused by stray animals. As water was already available, the households were able to start farming quickly. In addition, the participants also received training on emergency food production techniques, provided by specialists from the Gao Regional Directorate of Agriculture and the project's implementing partner.
Fatoumata, a mother of three, lives at the IDP site in Bagoundje 2 village. She is participating in the project and has received a market gardening kit as well as training. She explains, "I am responsible for the maintenance of 10 sacks of crops. For the first rotation, I planted tomato and onion crops, the seeds of which were provided by FAO. Then I produced cabbage and amaranth. We have already started eating tomatoes and cabbage. We are waiting for the other harvests. Then I'll buy other nurseries, such as peppers and lettuce, from market gardeners in the area." For the next rotations, Fatoumata is planning to produce beets, carrots and shallots, in order to diversify her diet and that of her family. The project participants decided to set up their sack gardens together, within the same production site, in order to better protect their crops.
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Left: View of the sack garden irrigation system. Right: Growing crops in the project participants’ sack gardens. ©FAO/Mohamed Cissé
Addressing urgent needs while building the resilience of displaced people
In these areas, the delivery of food aid remains a major challenge, while displaced people need to quickly restart their subsistence farming activities. Thus, the project favored the local supply of inputs, in order to circumvent the security constraints that slow down the deployment of teams and the delivery of kits. A total of 36 034 households participated in the activities of the Sack Garden Project, representing more than 244 000 people (including
74 253 women and more than 100 000 children). The project focused on the areas hosting IDPs.
Sack gardens have contributed significantly toward improving the quality of household diets, particularly through the production of nutritious vegetables. The IDPs were able to produce their own food directly around their homes and quickly meet their basic food needs. By setting up her 10 sack gardens, Fatoumata produced 18 kg of tomatoes, which she was able to consume with her family members, and nearly 3.4 kg of okra during the first harvest, including more than 1 kg that she shared with her neighbours. In addition, the training that she was provided has also reached all members of the community, who have come to learn about the various agricultural techniques from project participants. This has also strengthened social cohesion within the intervention areas. Fatoumata’s group has created a very strong social bond and some IDPs have chosen to settle permanently in the village. For those who will return to their areas of origin, the kits distributed to create the sack gardens are made up of inputs that households can take with them. This will enable them to continue their agricultural activities in their villages and improve their food production.