By Ida Sem Fossvik, Press Officer
The only thing Attahirou Roro can do with his dried-up crops is to use them as material for the walls of his little hut. Too little rain during the last planting season meant diminished crops. Poor families that barely have enough to eat in a normal year, are pushed closer to the edge. Over half of Niger’s population does not have enough to eat.
Long stretches of dry desert sand is all we see as we drive towards the little village of Moujjia in Niger. Fields stripped of every last trace of the crops that used to grow there are bad omens of what’s to come.
Desperate cows and goats extend their necks to nibble on the last few green leaves left on the thin bushes along the way. Their bones are clearly visible beneath the skin. The temperature has reached 42 degrees celcius and there are still a few weeks left until the long-awaited rain is due to arrive.
- We pray to God every day that he must send rain. But the last few years, rain falls are shorter and far between, says one of the village elders just as we approach the first houses of Moujjia.
No option but to leave
He is worried. The last few weeks over 300 families have left their homes in the village. The chances of finding food for livestock and families are getting slimmer every day and many people see no option but to leave for the bigger cities or cross the border to Nigeria, hoping to find food and work there.
- If we don’t get enough rain this year, I’ll have to leave too. I won’t have a choice, says farmer Attahirou Roro grimly. The small, thin man looks at us with a serious expression on his face. Both him and his wife are born in the village, and have lived there all their lives. Leaving everything behind won’t be easy.
The farmer usually cultivates cereals, ground nuts and beans in his fields, but it’s been a long time since his family had enough to eat. – We often go to bed without having had dinner. We don’t have milk for the children, and I worry that they will become malnourished, says the father of seven quietly.
Popular programmes
CARE has large programmes in the area, mainly focussed on preventing such crises. Now, when the crisis is already here, the main priority is to help those most affected - the very poorest.
- We’re working in a total of 1000 villages in this region. CARE distributes food, and it is especially important to ensure that children between 0 and three years get sufficient nutritious food. In addition, we give people money so they can buy food at the local markets. And we have cash-for-work programmes, says Stephane Petitprez, Head of Emergency in CARE Niger.
The cash-for-work programmes are popular in Niger. Households spend a few hours working together on local projects or working for CARE. The pay they get is a bit more than they would get if they spent the whole day working for other farmers.
This gives the poorest farmers a possibility of earning some money in the morning, and at the same time they can spend the afternoons working in their own fields, explains Petitprez.
The programme also has an objective when it comes to the protection of natural resources, for example fixation of sand dunes and making sure the soil where farmers grow their crops have time to recuperate between the harvests.
- This is one of CARE’s long term development strategies that directly address the underlying causes of food insecurity, such as decrease of agricultural productivity and the desert expansion. It is a very important part of our work, Petitprez stresses.
Reduced harvests and expensive grains
- The cash for work programme is the one reason we’re still standing, says Ali Chitoumou.
Every morning he goes to work for a few hours. The money he earns is spent on an evening meal for his family. He also tries to gather some wood on his way home, which he sells in the village.
- I usually buy cassava powder. When we mix it with water, it swells and the mix fills you up, but doesn’t give you a lot of nutrition. Children and grown-ups feel ill and we are becoming weaker every day, Ali says, pointing to some of his children, who are showing clear signs of malnutrition.
Ali takes us to see his grain storage. At the bottom is one bundle of millet, the grains he usually cultivates. This is all that’s left from last year’s harvest.
- In a normal year I usually harvest around 300 kg of millet. This year, all I managed to get was 100 kg, he explains.
Most farmers in Niger are not self sufficient, not even when their crops yield good harvests. But even though there’s still food to buy on the market, that’s not an option for Ali.
- The millet on the market is far too expensive. The prices have increased a lot and some commodities have doubled in price. I barely have enough money to buy cassava powder, he says.
One of his wives has already left. She took four of the children with her, hoping to find a better life elsewhere. Ali doesn’t know where they’ve gone. He has to stay home and help his other wife find food for the eleven children still living at home.
- If we get enough rain and the cash for work programme continues, we’ll be fine. Then I can buy seeds and plant so that we get some food. If we’re in for another bad year, I’ll have to look for work elsewhere and send money back home, he sighs.
Preparing for the worst
CARE also has savings and loans groups in the village. The groups have teamed up with 20 other villages to make a cereal bank which is still filled with grains. Both Ali and Attahirou’s wives are members of the savings and loans groups, which means they are first in line when the women decide to start selling the contents.
- We haven’t started selling yet, because we’re waiting for the planting season. That’s when the need is most urgent, says Aminatou Nahanthi, Attahirou’s wife.
From the cereal bank, the members can buy grains to use in their cooking and seeds to plant. But even these activities can be harmed if the next harvest is not large enough.
- We’ve had to suspend the saving and loaning because people aren’t able to pay back their loans. If we have another bad harvest, it will make it more difficult to get the groups started again, Aminatou says.
- We need more work. There is nothing as frustrating as just having to sit here and wait and do nothing. But right now that’s all we can do. We’re waiting for the rain, Attahirou says and looks up at the clear blue sky above.