Groundnuts or peanuts are a crop grown widely throughout The Gambia and Senegal, they are used in many local dishes for example domada and large factories process them for export. It is women who tend to sell them, and they are sold everywhere!
Such a large industry produces mountains of peanut husks which are left un-utilised. My Farm uses a innovative stove which is designed and produced by a Canadian NGO to steadily burn the husks, ideal for boiling water and cooking on. It is also an economical option here because of the plentiful availability of the husks.
My Farm collect the husks, to use at the farm, from a site near Banjul. Here a collective of women sift thought the husks in the hope of finding a peanut to sell. This is the last outpost of the vast peanut industry, drudgerous and with pitiful rewards. On our return to The Gambia we with My Farm representatives to take two peanut stoves to the desolate landscape where these women work.
The stoves will allow them to make use of the free and abundant husks and hopefully the potential to establish businesses by selling them. One woman was especially entrepreneurial and already talking about bulk supplies and profit. The stoves received an outstanding reception, with singing dancing and a lot of god blessing Canada.
To demonstrated how they worked a good old English brew was made! The women were delighted to be ale to turn what was once waste into a valuable resource. This was sharing knowledge at its best. Watch a video of the Peanut ladies in action!
