Songhai: a farm with a difference

Posted by Anton Crone on 6 April 2011

Promoted by the United Nations as a centre of excellence for Africa, Songhai goes far beyond the established model of success in Africa.

Songhai, named after the prosperous West African Empire of the 14th century, is a training farm that promotes agricultural entrepreneurship and sustainable farming practices. Their symbol is an eagle. Their logo carries the slogan Africa stands up.

But this is not post-colonial socialist doctrine. Songhai believes in the African spirit of autonomy, ambition and openness, and they are successful not just because of their belief, but also because Songhai is a non-governmental organization (NGO). They are autonomous, yet they support and empower the community.

Established in 1985 by a few locals on one hectare of land in a suburb of Porto-Novo in Benin, it is now a sprawling symbol of success. I arrived there, after crossing the border from Nigeria into Benin, looking for a bed for the night. I found an oasis and stayed for three days.

Songhai is much more than a farm

There are plenty of rooms for paying guests, trainees, foreign scientists and teachers. There is a store that sells Songhai’s produce. A large, open restaurant surrounded by palms makes a variety of wonderful meals, all ingredients produced on the farm. You can round it off with Songhai ice cream or yoghurt and a variety of fruit juices – before it starts to sound like a health farm, you can order a J&B.

A library supports the training center and is open to the public. An internet cafe with over 20 computers is a mecca for young locals. There is a wonderful  thatched church where a band plays before services every Sunday. It attracts so many locals that they spill over onto the paths that divide huge beds of tomatoes and plantain. Pig-snorts punctuate the church service. Chickens cluck in tune. Goats and guinea fowl back them up and fish splish and splash. The Old Mac Donald tune enters your mind easily.

Everyone is dressed in their Sunday best. They sing and smile and stay for meals at the restaurant, then buy a chicken for dinner or a baobab smoothie (delicious!) and call to the kids who have been surfing the web at the internet cafe. They leave on their trusty 125 cc bikes after collecting them from the bike guard for a nominal fee. Profits from all of these things go towards further development.

By applying foreign techniques and technologies to local resources,  Songhai has become a sustainable practice on an incredible scale. Nothing is overlooked or underutilized. Much of the power generated is solar, and no animal by-products are wasted – they are used to create biofuel, which is used for cooking and heating. Songhai is nearing 100% self reliance and proof of its success is the fact that the main market hub of Porto Novo is no longer in the center of town, but along the roadside just outside the entrance to Songhai.

When I left after my brief time there I felt wonderfully content and I knew it wasn’t just the healthy food and the friendly people, it was the synergy of agrarian life with the social life of the community – an ideal realised and growing.

Songhai recently established five other sites in Benin and is expanding into West Africa, beginning with a site in the Delta region of Nigeria. Among other distinctions, Songhai has been promoted by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as a regional center of excellence and was awarded a Special Achievement Award in agricultural entrepreneurship by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

Visit Songai at http://www.songhai.org/

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