In the Zac Mbao neighborhood on the outskirts of Dakar, the street leading to Abdou Touré’s home is notable for its cleanliness and lush greenery. This picturesque corner, enriched with flowers and fruit trees, contrasts sharply with the generally barren landscape of the Senegalese capital.
The creator of this green oasis in a city dominated by concrete is Abdou Touré, an environmental activist, educator, and urban farmer in his spare time. In 2019, Abdou launched his project called the Quartier Vert Challenge, aiming to positively impact the surrounding environment, firmly believing that even small interventions can have a significant effect on the community. With his experience in micro-gardening and skills acquired through scouting, Abdou Touré decided to grow his own daily food.
To achieve this, he created an urban garden on the terrace of his family home in Mbao, known as the Quartier Vert Challenge terrace. The results are impressive. BBC Afrique visited “Tonton Vert’s” terrace to see his work.
Urban agriculture as a response to food and economic challenges
Abdou inherited his passion for agriculture and environmental protection from his farming parents, a passion he has nurtured and turned into a personal mission.
“I grew up immersed in horticulture and farming with my parents and later in the scouting movement. I have always lived surrounded by greenery,” Abdou tells.
“We live in a country with limited resources, and we know that family or urban farming can be of great help to families with limited means,” adds Abdou Touré, known on social media for his commitment to education, the environment, and youth employment.
“Today, it is possible to grow a wide variety of plants in a space of fifty or a hundred square meters on a terrace, even for modest families, and these solutions are accessible.”
In Senegal, urban and peri-urban agriculture is crucial for the food chain, providing fresh and low-cost vegetables.
“With the terrace garden, my wife no longer needs to shop at the market, which allows us to save on some products and have high-quality food,” explains Abdou Touré.
For Abdou, it is absolutely feasible to grow and consume healthy food while promoting urban biodiversity. He encourages people to turn spaces on their terraces or around their homes into urban gardens.
“Terraces today are often used as storage. We can transform them into green, cultivable spaces. Every family can do it,” he says.
Abdou draws inspiration from ecological cultivation techniques and does not set limits on his productions. “Here we have cauliflower, carrots, bell peppers, and beets,” he says, moving among the plants and pots decorating the terrace.
“You will also see spices, aromatic plants, chili peppers, and strawberries. We are also experimenting with imported species like strawberries and apple trees. The terrace is a seed experimentation center. I try to grow everything I want. I am very curious and experiment a lot. I bring many seeds to Senegal and test everything I can because I don’t like to face impossible challenges.”
The big challenge for agriculture in West Africa in the coming years is to meet the food needs of a growing and increasingly urbanized population. Urban or proximity agriculture helps maintain green and fertile spaces in cities and their surroundings.
This form of agriculture includes all agricultural practices that occur in cities and their surroundings. Among the many functions of urban agriculture are ecological, economic, educational, aesthetic (improving urban life by beautifying cities), nutritional (providing local, healthy, and sustainable food), and social aspects (strengthening ties among citizens).
“Urban agriculture is a way to reduce poverty through a healthy diet. Today, the Quartier Vert Challenge represents an African solution, and I am proud to see other young Africans adopting it and working to improve living conditions in their countries, contributing to peace in our environment,” he concludes with optimism and pride.
Quartier Vert Challenge
The green terrace is born from the Quartier Vert Challenge concept, aimed at promoting environmental sustainability and urban agriculture. The initiative seeks to raise awareness among Senegalese about the importance of taking care of their environment and the challenges of climate change and reforestation.
“It all started with the realization that there were no trees in my street and trash was scattered everywhere. I decided to take action by starting to clean the street in front of my house on weekends and plant trees,” Abdou recounts.
Abdou Touré dreams of transforming Dakar into a green city. To spread the initiative and reach a broader audience, he created the hashtag (#QuartierVertChallenge) on social media and posted videos of his environmental actions.
The concept has gained success and, thanks to social media, has attracted attention beyond Senegalese borders. In just a few years, the initiative has achieved significant success and spread to about fifteen African countries, garnering the interest of international organizations and diplomatic representatives convinced by Abdou Touré’s approach and concept.
“My greatest satisfaction is that the Quartier Vert Challenge has become an African response to the challenges of climate change and sustainable development. The initiative has been adopted in Mauritania, Chad, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Congo, and even Comoros,” says Abdou Touré, alias Tonton Vert, a nickname that has gone viral on social media and perfectly aligns with the philosophy and spirit of the character.
Aware of the risks of desertification and the lack of green spaces on the health and well-being of populations, the activist calls for more green and less concrete in Dakar: “What is happening to us? Today we have replaced trees with concrete. We have built buildings. Instead, we should harmonize the two. Build, yes, but in an intelligent way, planting and preserving the environment,” he laments.
In 2022, the Quartier Vert Challenge was selected as one of the 100 most innovative, impactful, and replicable projects globally by Unesco Green.
