From June 2 to 4, 2026, in Saint-Louis (Senegal), the COSTEA think tank organized, alongside ISRA and LISODE, a regional participatory workshop dedicated to the agroecological re-engineering of collective irrigation systems.
Titled “Rethinking collective irrigation systems for agroecology,” this workshop brought together representatives from Irrigation Development and Management Companies (SAGIs), researchers, project owners, producers, and experts from several countries in West Africa and the Maghreb.
Notably, participants included stakeholders from Senegal, Chad, and Mauritania, members of the West African SAGI Network (ROA-SAGI), as well as a representative from REMIG (Moroccan Interprofessional Irrigation Network).
This workshop is a continuation of the actions undertaken by COSTEA in Senegal regarding the challenges of irrigated agroecology and the transition of agricultural territories.
It specifically extends:
The objective is to identify concrete ways to adapt hydraulic infrastructure and management methods to contemporary challenges: agricultural diversification, sustainable water management, climate resilience, and the inclusion of local stakeholders.
The workshop took place in three stages:
This pedagogical tool allowed participants to simulate concrete situations related to water management, the organization of irrigated perimeters, and trade-offs between agricultural uses, infrastructure, and environmental constraints.
The approach developed by COSTEA does not only aim to disseminate good agricultural practices, but to examine the systemic dimensions of the agroecological transition: water governance, collective organization, design of developments, the role of producers, and the coordination between technical actors and territories.
Through this regional workshop, COSTEA pursues its objective: to produce operational knowledge and support the transformation of irrigated agriculture through collective, territorial, and action-oriented approaches, notably through its training / capacity building component.
Created in 2013 with the support of the French Development Agency (AFD), COSTEA is a think tank dedicated to water for food in the face of climate change challenges.
It brings together an international community of nearly 800 members—experts, scientists, agricultural water managers, public officials, and technical partners—mobilized around four priority themes: