|
SONGHAI
CENTER PORTO-NOVO
The
Porto-Novo Center is located in the Ouème region of the country,
on the route to Ouando. The first steps in establishing the center
were taken in 1985, one single hectare of land. Today, the center
covers 15 ha (no further extensions are possible) on which are various
kinds of activities are conducted intended to train agricultural
entrepreneurs and anchor them in a very concrete entrepreneurial
practice of agricultural production.
The
Porto-Novo Center is the nervous center of the Songhai movement
- the headquarters for the NGO. It is characterized by a permanent
quest for new plant and animal varieties and species and for services
deriving from and feeding into agriculture (craft industry, appropriate
technologies, fabrication of agricultural machines, etc.) all bonded
together in synergy.
The
main activities conducted on the Songhai Porto-Novo site are as
follows:
- Training
in biological agriculture (about 100 student farmers
and course participants permanently on site).
- Plant
production (this is on a small scale due to the
lack of space). It comprises market gardening, fruit farming,
and subsistence farming.
- Animal
production: laying hens, broilers, quails, geese,
ducks, snails, grasscutters (African giant bushrat), pigs,
chicks, rabbits, and turkeys.
- Mushroom
farming,
particularly pleurotus.
- Fish
farming (tilapia, catfish, etc.).
- Biogas
production for meeting the (biogas) energy requirements
of the various units.
There
are various centers of activity:
-
A mechanical workshop for
the creation and construction of agricultural machines adapted
to the needs of peasant farmers.
- A
workshop for processing agricultural products (
butchery of animals, delicatessen, production of fruit juices,
jams, syrups, smoked chicken, yogurt, cheese and soymilk,
etc.).
- A
feed mill production center
that grinds well-balanced animal feed for different species
and mixes plant products grown on the farm.
- Two
restaurants, one "European" and the other
"African". The latter roasts up to 150 pigs per
month.
- A
community telecenter.
- A
center for documentation and information.
- A
workshop for rice hulling.
- A
workshop for cashew nut processing (de-shelling
of the nuts, processing, and packaging).
-
A workshop for soybean processing
(oil extraction for human consumption and oilcake for animal
feed.
|
