Women's Community Gardens in Niger

Salamatou, mother of four children, lives in Nassile in a remote rural area in the Sahel region of Niger. When she was a child, she grew up around the last areas of countryside supporting diverse wildlife including lions, elephants and hyenas. Today, the animals are long gone and only scrub-brush remains where large trees once flourished. This poor region now faces regular food insecurity, a lack of water for basic needs and families struggle to make ends meet.

Schools have presented new challenges to parents as they struggle to survive and enroll children into school, weighing the benefits of their children attending school or staying home to work. Salamatou is one of RAIN’s mentors that have the leadership qualities and motivation to work as a community leader for the Access to Education mentoring program. She sponsors five students providing home and school visits, practical skills training and general socio-emotional support and encouragement to work hard in school.

Salamatou was a major force in organizing neighbors and friends to participate in learning a new skill together. In the first year of gardening, individuals saw a fresh tomato and a cucumber for the first time. After last year’s harvest, Salamatou said:

, “Before RAIN came to our village, I didn’t know anything about gardening. Now I know how to prepare the soil, transplant seedling, and use drip irrigation with organic pesticide. I worked to produce my own vegetables. I sell part of my harvest, offer some as social assistance and have consumed a good part in order to feed my family. Some of the harvest we dry. I have dried onion leaves for sauce, and dried tomato and cabbage that can be stored and eaten later.”

As the growing season approaches in Niger, it is a time of rejoice. The rains are precious for there is only a few months each year that it falls. During this fertile time the dusty Sahel becomes a vibrant green. For the people living here, it is a blessing, for without water there can be no life. There is a phrase in the Tuareg language of Tamasheq called “Aman Iman” meaning water is life. The average rain fall in Niger is less than an inch of rain every year.

To combat this incredible lack of water, RAIN has installed dozens of wells in at-risk villages and communities. This year, after discussions with our partner communities in Nasslie and Tagantassou, we have found that there is a need to provide more access to water. The communities have requested that more wells be built to expand their current community garden and to supply water for the surrounding hamlets.  With the extra well, hundreds will benefit from the increased cultivation of vegetables and plentiful clean water.

Our goal is to create four new wells over the next two years. The overall cultivation of crops and profits made by the community has increased by more than three times the previous year. This is an indicator that not only is it possible to create gardens in one of the world’s hottest countries, but that these gardens can thrive. The communities that work in the gardens have access to irrigation techniques that strengthen their abilities and knowledge of agricultural practices just like Salamatou.