Women's Community Gardens in Niger

 In the desert country of Niger water and food are live or death challenges. It is so much a part of life that here there is a fifth season; the ‘hunger season’ is the four months before the yearly rainy season. If the prior years’ rain was not enough to keep wells flowing and grass growing from September to June, the Hunger Season will be upon the land. Many Nigeriens would say that the lack of water is a normal occurrence however and during the Hunger Season their struggle is made far worse.

We partner with nomadic and rural women to address the need for food security with irrigated cooperative gardens. With irrigation they are able to plant crops throughout the year, which was impossible before. Hariatou (34) is a woman who was inspired to join the Women’s Cooperative Gardens after observing the productive work that had taken place in other communities. She lives in Tagantassou and sustains herself only on the little money she receives from making reed mates. She sees the garden as an opportunity for change and growth.

“I joined the garden cooperative because we have seen RAIN’s work in the Mari Women’s Garden [3 miles from Tagantassou] and how much the women benefit from the garden. We hope that the garden will help us to work less on the tabarma mats. We want to have more vegetables for our families and to make some money. We want to change our market and have people coming to by crops from us instead of going to the town.

We have been organizing the garden for 3 months now. It is not easy to get all of the women together and organized. As we continue working in the garden and learning about how to keep the garden going, we will learn more. I am looking forward to next year when we can take advantage of the well, the drip system, and start in the cold season.

So far, we have learned about what different foods do in our bodies, and that there is more than one kind of vitamin. We also are learning about how to organize our group more. We are learning to divide tasks. As our garden starts to produce we will see how to sell and save money to keep the garden going.”

 Women just like Hariatou are enduring these hardships, but also are beginning to have access to more opportunities. The women community gardens feed hundreds of families and the number of participating women continues to grow. These changes are what are needed in rural Niger to encourage a strong local economy.  These gardens are stimulating growth and creating sustainable living for these magnificent people. The future of these ethnic groups livelihood and their culture lies in sustainable living and community development.