With only about 8 inches of rainfall a year, Timbuktu has one of the hottest climates on the planet. Market gardeners draw water by hand from wells for their small vegetable gardens, protecting the crops from the scorching wind and heat with planted windbreaks and fabric screens. With luck, they will be able to produce groundnuts, millet, potatoes, tomatoes, and even melons. But luck has been in short supply lately. Perched on the boundary between the encroaching Sahara Desert and the semi-arid Sahel, the historic oasis and center of Muslim scholarship struggles to keep its people fed, thanks to more than a decade of conflict, political strife, and frequent droughts.
