OUÈDO AHOUANSSODJA, Benin — It was a cool, quiet morning in March 2025 when we visited the lush green Agro-Eco farm, and a dozen young people were already hard at work. Their voices carried across the fields as they called out to one another. Surrounded by groves of palms and other trees and rows of pineapple, the Agro-Eco Farm covers 2.5 hectares (6.2 acres), in the village of Ouèdo Ahouanssodja, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the administrative capital, Cotonou. Launched in December 2022, Agro-Eco’s farmers mostly grow traditional vegetables such as African eggplant (Solanum macrocarpon), bitter leaf (Vernonia amygdalina) and crincrin (Corchorus olitorius). In response to growing demand, they have also added crops like lettuce, cucumbers and carrots. “We’re a youth cooperative. We grow leafy greens, fruit and root vegetables using organic methods — no chemical inputs or pesticides,” says Carole Alimagnidokpo, an agronomist and president of the Agro-Eco Cooperative. “We use natural treatments — some we buy, others we make ourselves from things like neem, garlic, and papaya leaves.” Access to water is vital for a successful market garden. The Agro-Eco Cooperative has a borehole with a solar-powered pump and hopes to have a second well drilled soon. Image by Ange Banouwin for Mongabay. That morning, the dozen or so young farmers were busy watering and weeding their garden’s beds. One was spraying basil plants, while another was placing a mixture of ash and manure around the base of tomato plants. “Ash isn’t just a fertilizer — it…This article was originally published on Mongabay

From Conservation news via this RSS feed