My day job.

It's not all just playing with kids and going on vacation. I actually have work here. Another agriculture volunteer and I came up with a description of what we are doing (and will do, since we're just starting out) as part of our Ag work:

• Implementing community gardens to help families add vegetables to their diets and increase their incomes by selling produce at local markets.

• Introducing permagarden techniques to make efficient use of rainwater and maximize vegetable production in small spaces.

• Planting fruit and nut trees for family compounds

• Encouraging the use of agroforestry trees for windbreaks, soil conservation, alley cropping, intercropping, and live-fencing.

• Extending improved seed for corn, millet, sorghum, rice and cowpeas.

• Introducing sesame as a cash crop.

• Helping farmers improve their seed storage techniques.

• Assisting local families and entrepreneurs in food preservation.

• Teaching farmers and gardeners Integrated Pest Management practices like Neem solution and the safe use of chemical pesticides and herbicides.

• Extending improved agricultural techniques like appropriate spacing, weeding, thinning, and the use of compost.

We also have "secondary projects" -- things that aren't related to agriculture -- like teaching English, leading girls groups, showing people how to care for open wounds (don't rub dirt in them!), distributing mosquito nets, producing local radio shows, and much more.

You can see more about what Senegal volunteers are doing at the Peace Corps Senegal web site!