Fadiouth Island Salted Millet Couscous Senegal
The first cereals destined for human consumption were harvested on the African savannah, the most likely birthplace of man. Still today, more than sixty varieties of wild cereals are harvested and consumed as well as many domesticated cereals such as rice, millet and fonio.
Salted millet couscous from Fadiouth Island is the result of bringing together traditional cereals, cultivated since time immemorial on the inland areas, and the sea.
Situated just off the mainland, Fadiouth village sits on this island covered in seashells and is accessible from Joal (150km south of Dakar) via a long narrow wooden pedestrian bridge. The seerer, the Indigenous people who live here, have always been the main producers of sunnà millet and make their living from agriculture and fishing in the sea and lagoons.
The local preparation of salted couscous is long and laborious, requiring at least two days to obtain a quality product. After finishing their domestic chores, the women come together towards the evening to prepare the millet to make the flour: the grain is husked in a wooden mortar and pestle, sifted and washed in the sea. It is then ground (using electric mills or by hand) and the resulting semolina is wet with seawater and worked by hand to transform it into tiny couscous pellets (covered with the dry semolina to keep them from sticking) that are then sifted. This process continues until all of the semolina has been transformed into tiny couscous beads. At this point, the product is stored in traditional gourd containers, covered with a cloth and left to ferment overnight. In the morning the women add powdered leaves of baobab - used as a thickener - and start cooking.
Currently, Fadiouth couscous is only consumed or sold locally, mainly for reasons of freshness. The most typical dish of the town is salted couscous with a sauce of mangrove flowers, peanuts and meat or shellfish.
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Launched in 2011, as part of a project with FAO and financed by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Development Cooperation, the Presidium preserves an ancient, traditional and original production line that links the earth with the sea. The objective is to promote a revival of the cultivation and consumption of the local sunnà millet, which has been dropping rapidly in recent years, and increase awareness among local residents of why it is important to keep marine waters and beaches clean and unpolluted. The Presidium has identified a core group of 20 women producers who have been brought together in a local economic group (GIE). The town of Joal-Fadiouth procured, and restored to working order, a building on the island where the women can work together. In 2011, the producers took part in two formal training workshops run by Aziz El Yamalahi (an expert on cereals and couscous production) to define the Presidium specifications and improve packaging and labeling of the couscous.
These efforts to improve the sanitary conditions of processing and conserving the couscous and the restoration of the building have enabled the Presidium producers to obtain the authorization of the Ministry of Commerce to sell the product on the local and international market.
Production Area
Fadiouth Island, Joal-Fadiouth Municipality, Fatick Region
Presidium supported by
FAO - Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs Development Cooperation
In the framework of GTF/RAF/426/ITA "Promoting origin-linked quality products in four countries" project
City of Torino as a part of the EU co-funded 4Cities4Dev project
20 women gathered in the Mbel Saač GIE
Presidium coordinators
Anna Ndiaye
tel. +221 771489764
madiensec@yahoo.fr
Augustin Diokh
tel. +221 775470386
augustdiokh@hotmail.com
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