Project presentation
In the Kapatrès region of Guinea-Bissau, women working in salt production boil brine (very salty water) to harvest salt, an activity that consumes large amounts of mangrove wood and is harmful to their health due to smoke emissions. The Univers-Sel association, in collaboration with local producers and salt workers from Guérande, developed an eco-friendly production technique called solar salt farming, which allows the salt to be recovered by drying the brine on tarps exposed to the sun.
During a first three-year phase (2016–2019) supported by the Foundation, 48 lead female producers were trained in solar salt farming and passed on their skills to 1,000 women. In a new three-year phase (2020–2022), Univers-Sel aims to strengthen the establishment and dissemination of the technique by setting up two model farms to serve as sites for technical experimentation and training, organizing six exchange visits between different sites, creating an interprofessional network to coordinate actors in the salt sector, and training 20 new lead producers who will pass on their knowledge to 500 additional producers.
The project also seeks to strengthen and diversify women’s skills through the training of 80 producers in literacy, financial management, and good governance, the creation of two village-based producers’ organizations to pool production and sales, support for women in developing income-generating activities, and the implementation of new technical experiments.
The impact of the project is multiple, both for the environment, by reducing wood consumption and regenerating mangroves, and for the producers, through increased incomes, improved living conditions, and better health.
