Prey to the hungry season
Doga, Maradi region (Centre-East of Niger)
Doga, a village of several hundred inhabitants to the South of Maradi, seems deflated, crushed by the mid-day heat. Where has the hyperactivity gone that characterises this part of southern Niger, an area which borders with Nigeria and is reputed for its entrepreneurship? The village is practically deserted and only some women and children are sitting in the shade of the trees.
By contrast, it is very busy at the leprosy centre of the neighbouring Sudan Interior Mission. Abdoulwahab Saleye has been here since this morning. Cured from leprosy, he is 45 years old, but appears to be much older. “I used to work at SIM, but was laid off. Now, I beg to feed my family of five.”
“It has been very difficult this year,” he says bitterly. “I went begging all the way to southern Nigeria. But there, the authorities hunt down beggers and I was obliged to return.”
The centre distributes millet to the needy. But it is impossible to satisfy everyone. Sometimes it is necessary to go and come back several times before having enough to feed a small family, about 2.5 kg.
Haoua Mamane, 50 years, also here at the centre, adds that it is not even enough to feed his family of seven.
Last year’s harvest only lasted a month. The fields in the area have become smaller and smaller as each generation divides the inheritance. The earth is poor. Fertilisers are needed that these small farmers cannot afford. In addition, there hasn’t been enough rain. Result: a poor harvest and a lack of enough food for a large majority of the inhabitants. Animals haven’t been spared as there is not enough pasture.
Le sac de mil de 100 kg a grimpé jusqu’à 45 $, hors de portée des ménages vulnérables. « Nous avons vendu des animaux, surtout nos chèvres » dit Haoua. « Maintenant, nous n’en, avons plus ou elles sont en si piteux état que nous n’en tirons pas un bon prix » ajoute Haoua. En effet, là où un bouc valait un sac, il faut au moins deux boucs maintenant.
The price of 100 kg of millet has jumped to as much as 22,000 CFA (34 €), which is out of reach for vulnerable households. “We have sold animals, mainly our goats,” says Haoua. “Now, we don’t have enough or they are in such pitiable state that they wouldn’t fetch a good price,” adds Haoua. “A billy goat used to be worth a bag [of millet], now it costs two billy goats to buy a bag.”
Haoua used to earn a living selling utensils, plastic and beads. Today, she, together with other women from Doga, survive by working for better off families doing the housework or pounding the millet.
“Many people have left for Nigeria. Even today, many men have left, leaving the field work to the women and children,” adds Abdoulwahab.
Abdoulwahab and Haoua are counting on l’Association pour le Renouveau de l’Elevage au Niger (AREN), Oxfam’s partner for their humanitarian response in the Maradi region.
“We have organised the sale of cereals at a subsidised price and the free distribution of foodstuffs,” says Amina Liman, the coordinator of operations at this distribution site in Gabi which serves the village of Doga.
Vulnerable households can buy cereals at a subsidised price. A 100 kg bag of millet can be bought per household for 10 000 CFA (15.5 €). The free distribution of food is only for the most vulnerable households, and they receive one bag of millet per family. One bag is enough to feed a family of seven for a month.
The sale of animal feed at subsidised prices (3500 F or 5.5 € per bag—as opposed to 10 000 CFA on the market) and the free distribution of animal feed are done as a function of the number of animals owned by a family.
At the Gabi distribution site, upon which the village of Doga depends, 160 bags of millet and 700 bags of wheat are distributed in the first two days. As many as 1233 people benefited.
The beneficiaries were very appreciative. “But it is not enough,” say Adbouwahab and Haoua. “There will have to be at least three more before the next harvest.”
