Senegal is a small country in West Africa of about 12 million people. According to UNDP figures, only 39% of adults are literate, the average person earns about US$1,800 per year and life expectancy is a little over 62 years.

So it is not really the sort of place you'd think people could afford organic food. However, Senegal also has a significant problem: toxic vegetables.

According to a local Agricultural Engineer, Amadou Diouf

Some gardeners respect none of the international standards, use waste-water or inappropriate pesticides at any dose and at any time. The risks are very serious for producers and consumers. The high toxicity levels that result can lead to "acute poisoning which can cause headaches, vomiting, anxiety, loss of sight, while chronic poisoning can cause toxicity, infertility in women and impotence in men. -- IRIN, the news service of the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs

The demand for cheap international food and the overuse of agrochemicals is literally poisoning Africans. To address this problem, a coalition led by PAN-UK (Pesticide Action Network) and their African partners PAN AFRIQUE have been working with local farming groups to encourage more sensible use of pesticides and promote organic farming. According to a recent article in the Garden Organic magazine (not online), representatives of five smallholder organisations visited Europe to learn more from European organic growers. The lessons they took back were happily not only about growing food to meet the stringent standards for organic produce in Europe, but also things they could try in the local market such as a Senegalese veggie box scheme to deliver healthy vegetables to people's homes.

Jeanne Diatara, founder of a Senegalese organisation which translates as The Network of Women in Organic Agriculture and Fair Trade was recently interviewed on the BBC. It is an inspiring story of how organic agricultural systems can offer healthy and affordable options for the poorest people in the face of intransigence by the government.

As an American agricultural student reported in 2005, sustainable agriculture in Senegal depends on two really important factors -- protecting the soil and educating the women.