AFRICA/NIGER - The inhabitants of Tibiri organize themselves to deal with the hunger that affects the region each year

Monday, 18 June 2012

Tibiri (Agenzia Fides) - In Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world, every year six million people out of 18 million inhabitants of the desert region of Sahel in West Africa, suffer from famine situations. Thanks to a project, supported by Oxfam and funded by the World Food Programme (WFP), which provides for the collection of water to regenerate the soil and to plant acacia trees, the inhabitants of the hot and windy village of Tibiri in the south-west of Niger, with a shovel in their hand and barefoot, dig 3 meter deep holes for rainwater. A project that has changed the lives of many people in Tibiri and offers farmers $ 56 per month for the work they do for the entire community. Last year, in the region, 80% of the 75 000 farmers lost their crops due to drought. When the first rains begin to arrive, the program enters a new phase: the financial support continues, but every farmer starts to sow their land. Several hundred miles away, in the region of Tanout, with the first rains the plantations of millet seeds have started. The harvests of the last three years were not sufficient for the population because of poor product quality. While waiting for the government to coordinate its limited resources to fight hunger in the country, the inhabitants of Tibiri have organized themselves locally and have decided to use their savings to establish a food bank. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 18/6/2012)


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