Irrigation for the Development of Agriculture and the Improvement of the Socio-Economic Conditions of Women in Senegal: Case of the PARIIS Project in the Fatick Region

The paper investigates the role of irrigation in developing agriculture in Senegal, focusing on the PARIIS project in the Fatick region. It assesses the added value of irrigation by examining agricultural production levels and income generated among primarily female beneficiaries. The study finds that irrigation significantly increased production and consequently raised the income of all producers. Additional benefits include time savings, improved health conditions, and the ability for beneficiaries to engage in other activities. It appears from the study that with the introduction of irrigation, the areas saw their production increase substantially, sometimes going from simple to quadruple. Consequently, we observed an increase in income for all producers. In addition to these quantitative advantages, we note other equally important advantages such as the notable time saving caused by considerably reduced plant watering time. Indeed, the beneficiaries, before irrigated systems, spent practically the entire day and sometimes the night drawing water from wells to irrigate the fields. This time saving now allows them to devote themselves to other activities, particularly family-related and sometimes lucrative. Their state of health has improved at the same time, which contributes to better living conditions. This situation does not exclude difficulties that must be resolved to get the most out of the developments. We note the need to strengthen the capacities of farmers in order to better manage technical routes, the absence of storage infrastructure to ensure good conservation of crops, the non-availability of quality fertilizers on time, difficulties in marketing process, etc. Finally, to strengthen the achievements, recommendations are made to the beneficiaries, projects and programs but also to the State.