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| Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity |
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04/11/2009 |
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Gathering Fruit to Save the Sea
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On the island of Dionewar in the Saloum delta—an intricate maze of islands, fresh and salt water extending over 180,000 hectares—three communities of women are involved in collecting and processing mollusks. They all belong to Fénagie Pêche, a national association defending the rights of small coastal fishing communities and enthusiastically supported Slow Food, founding the Séelal Dundin convivium in the city of Diouloulou.
The main problem facing this area is the increased pressure on marine resources: this is a result of exploitation by large foreign fishing fleets and the growing local population, which almost exclusively depends on fishing. Compounding the situation is the collapse of Pointe de Sangomar (a strip of land off the Dionewar coast), which has caused an increase in water salinity and the use of wood as a fuel for smoking seafood, which is affecting local forests, particularly mangrove.
 For these reasons discussions have been held together with the women about the possibility of branching out from fishing activities to the gathering and processing some of the numerous wild fruit species growing in the area, such as the fruit of baobab and the small fragrant wild oranges.
With the help of a local agronomist, in March 2009 a project was carried out to identify and catalog the most interesting and suitable varieties for processing and premises were found for producing juices and jams. From October 1 to 6, 2009, the Slow Food Foundation organized a technical visit by Federico Santamaria, coordinator of the Presidium for dried chestnuts (Liguria), to define the steps of the project.
 The premises available for the women comprises a tiled workshop, a small shop and storage area. It has mains electricity but no equipment and the water supply does not meet required hygiene standards.
The first priority will therefore be to provide the workshop with basic equipment (pans, sieves, scales, gas) and to construct a tank to collect rain water. Then training courses will be organized for the producers (both locally and in Italy) on good processing practices and basic hygiene standards.
The Slow Food Foundation will also collaborate with ITA (Institut de Technologie Alimentaire) and ANCAR (Agence Nationale Conseil Agricole et Rural), which already run programs to support local products so communities can sell on the local market.
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