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Even farmers in the Sahara, the world’s largest hot desert, can grow food with enough water. Aliman Ekouel plants wheat and barley in his family garden in the Tuareg oasis town of Timia, Niger. Major droughts in the 1970s and 1980s pushed the Sahara Desert over much of the grazing lands the Tuareg needed for their camels, decimating their herds. As a result, many of these legendary desert nomads turned to farming and now carefully channel rainwater and groundwater into their small plots. Erratic rainfall, desertification, and land degradation have crippled Niger’s food production over the decades, leaving some 45 percent of Niger’s children chronically malnourished. In 2023 nearly three million of the country’s citizens were in acute need of food assistance.

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STNMTZ_19971201_15AA.TIF
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©2006 George Steinmetz
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georgesteinmetz.com
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Even farmers in the Sahara, the world’s largest hot desert, can grow food with enough water. Aliman Ekouel plants wheat and barley in his family garden in the Tuareg oasis town of Timia, Niger. Major droughts in the 1970s and 1980s pushed the Sahara Desert over much of the grazing lands the Tuareg needed for their camels, decimating their herds. As a result, many of these legendary desert nomads turned to farming and now carefully channel rainwater and groundwater into their small plots. Erratic rainfall, desertification, and land degradation have crippled Niger’s food production over the decades, leaving some 45 percent of Niger’s children chronically malnourished. In 2023 nearly three million of the country’s citizens were in acute need of food assistance.

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