Thumbs up for Swissaid

More and more people and less and less to eat – this is the alarming conclusion. But the people of Birni N’Gaouré in Niger are hanging in there. With the support of SWISSAID they are battling the crises – and improving their lives little by little.

Two-thirds of the West African state of Niger is desert. Only 11 per cent of its land is suitable for farming. The people are suffering due to the food crisis. In particular, there is a lack of precious water. “The main problem is water. Water to drink, of course, but also water for agriculture and for the animals”, Hassane Mamoudou technical advisor to a state hunger relief programme commented last year to the British newspaper “The Guardian”. He is worried. “We used to have a food crisis every 10 years; now every seven, every five, every two years we have a crisis. They come closer and closer and are bigger and bigger.”