Mariama Sonko

Mariama Sonko is a Senegalese activist and ecofeminist who advocates for food sovereignty in West Africa. She is the president of We Are The Solution ("", abbreviated as NSS), an organization fighting for women's empowerment in agriculture and agroecology.

Childhood Sonko was born in Bandjikaky, Senegal in the early 1970s to a family of farmers. As a child, she moved between Bandjikaky and her parent's hometown of Karongue. Her mother struggled to take care of the family, in part because wives were traditionally forbidden from inheriting the land of their husbands. Though she attempted to continue her studies, she was unable to deal with academic work on top of her domestic duties. When Sonko began campaigning to change the landowner's mind, she was excluded from community events. It started as a campaign by twelve rural women's organizations in 5 countries (Senegal, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, and Ghana); it was later turned into a non-governmental organization. The campaign was created to counter the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, which focused on artificial fertilizers and genetically modified seeds as opposed to traditional ways of farming.

The primary goals of NSS are promoting ancestral knowledge and practices supporting African food sovereignty, getting decision-makers to take agroecological practices into account in national agricultural policy, and supporting products from family farming or agroecological practices. They also established new agroecological farms, three plant nurseries (in Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Senegal), and several seed huts to maintain local farmers' "seed capital". Sonko also runs an agricultural training center employing over 20 people.

Through NSS, Sonko has been involved in numerous projects creating natural alternatives to agricultural products, including a bio-fertilizer made from cow manure, an alternative to bouillon cubes made from herbs called "Sum Pack", and bio-pesticides made from ginger, chili, and garlic. NSS also successfully campaigned for the Senegalese government to subsidize bio-fertilizer use.

NSS has campaigned for the right for women to own land, which despite being allowed by law is often culturally forbidden.

Personal life Sonko was formerly married to Abdul, who was a teacher until he died in the late 1990s. She has five children: four girls and one boy. She is of the Jola people.