The 2023 fundraising campaign is now over!
Thank you to everyone who contributed, allowing us to distribute seeds to over 60 villages.
Read the full report here.

What We Do

Seeds for Prosperity focuses its activities mainly on vegetable gardens in rural areas of The Gambia. These gardens are the most important sources of vegetables consumed in the country, and over 90% of the farmers in these gardens are women. However, they receive no support from the government whose limited support is focused primarily on traditional agricultural cultivation of rice and groundnuts. Consequently, these vegetable farms are frequently short of critical inputs such as seeds and fertilizer. They are also acutely short of irrigation, which is essential since the best time for vegetable production in Gambia’s climate is during the dry season.

Given The Gambia’s location in the Sahel, as well as being a low-lying coastal country, the effects of climate change are being felt. Seeds for Prosperity therefore takes climate change adaptation and mitigation into account in its interventions.

Areas of Support

• Quality Seeds: We assist gardens with procuring quality vegetable seeds. The lack of quality seeds reduces productivity and severely limits the range of vegetables that are grown. We usually focus on the following vegetables: onion, pepper, tomato, bitter tomato, cabbage, lettuce and eggplant. The seeds assistance we provide is not expected to meet the total seed need of the targeted villages. Despite their challenging financial situations, these village gardeners have a demonstrated track record of consistency in vegetable cultivation and they do buy some seeds on their own or in the case of suitable vegetables, they are able to obtain seeds (though often low quality) from previous season’s harvests (e.g. okra, hibiscus, as well as some varieties of tomatoes and peppers). Seeds for Prosperity typically aims to cover 20% 50% of the seeds cost for village gardens. 
  
  
• Fertilizer: Vegetable growing in The Gambia is extensive because of the small size of land available to women for this activity. Without the use of fertilizer, land productivity continuously falls. We also focus on providing fertilizers to the garden to improve yields sustainably. Use of fertilizer in The Gambia is extremely low. The average fertilizer use globally is 137kg per metric ton per hectare. The African average is 18kg per metric ton per hectare. In The Gambia, the average is 3kg per metric ton per hectare.
  
  
• Sustainable Irrigation: Lack of adequate water is a major hardship for vegetable growers. Luckily, solar-powered borehole system is adequate given the water aquifers close to the surface in all parts of The Gambia.
  
  
• Agro-forestry: Deforestation is a major problem in the country. As part of our climate change mitigation activities, we focus planting not only in settlements but also in community forests.