Attahirou Roro with the dried-up millet from the last harvest. His family does not have enough to eat and he fears he will have to leave the village of Moujjia if the situation doesn't improve. © Ida Sem Fossvik / CARE.The only thing Attahirou Roro can do with his dried-up crops is to use them as material for the walls of his small hut.
Too little rain during the last planting season diminished his crops. Families like his, 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 there is to see on the 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.
Preparing for the worst
CARE runs 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. Attahirou’s wife Aminatou Nahanthi is a member 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.
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.
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