In March 2014, Feed the Future West/WINNER organized a training for farmers associations in the Cul-de-Sac plain on the use of irrigation canals with floodgates, flow measurement, flow calculation methods, and other irrigation techniques at its Rural Center for Sustainable Development (CRDD) in Bas-Boen. The objective of the two-day training, held on March 10-11 andled by Dr. Brian Boman of the University of Florida, was to introduce local agricultural professionals to efficient and equitable water resource management. Thirty-one farmers took part in the training. Loralus Lucas, president of the Association des Irrigants de la Riviere Grise (AIRG), acknowledged the success of the training, claiming he was “finally technically armed for better water management and distribution on the perimeter of the Riviere Grise.”
Leonie Marie Turenne, a master farmer and committee member of the Pump Management Station at Latremblay 5, was anxious to share the knowledge she gained with other committee members. As a result of the training she believed that she and the other members of her community could finally ensure efficient water distribution at the pump stations to help better manage plot irrigation.
FtF West/WINNER continues to improve the availability of water for irrigation for farmers working in the in Cul-de-Sac plain and the project’s zones of intervention. In addition to the direct technical assistance to farmers by FtF West/WINNER in applying best practic es for target crops in the Cul-de-Sac plain (corn, beans, and rice), the project’s rehabilitation of the plain’s irrigation networks have improved the lives of farmers throughout the region.
