The United Nations has declared 2026 the International Year of the Woman Farmer. The initiative recognizes the crucial role that women play in the global food system, and we couldn't agree more.

Since 2015, we have been helping groups of women in rural villages start gardens so they can grow food for their families and sell the rest in the markets.

Three and a half hectares (just over 8.5 acres) of land across five villages are now under cultivation by over two hundred women. From seed to harvest, and following the seasons, they grow onions, okra, cabbage, eggplant, bitter eggplant, salad greens, tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, and harvest mangoes, papayas and bananas from trees they have planted — a diverse and nutritious supply of fresh fruit and vegetables that were not always available before.

“Since I started working in the garden, my life has really changed. I used to have to go to Tambacounda to buy vegetables that we now grow here. We now save the money we used to spend in Tamba,” says Mouscoutou Cissokho, a member of the Sinthian community farm.

Stay tuned for more stories from these transformative community gardens during the International Year of the Women Farmer.