Scientists help tackle food shortages in the Sahel

Related pages: Africa homepage | MDG 1: Poverty and hunger | Speech by Hilary Benn: Building science and technology capacity with African partners

Scientists in Niger are helping to increase food security in northern Africa's Sahel region - as Secretary of State Hilary Benn discovered when he visited the Agrhymet Regional Centre in Niamey in February 2005.

Using satellite images and data from across the region - including locust activity, which in 2004 reached a 20-year high - scientists at the centre can predict food shortages ahead of the harvest. 

This information can help countries spanning the Sahel (the area between Sahara and the tropics) to find out how much food they can expect to grow - and how much food aid they will need to make up any shortfall. This could be vital: around one quarter of the people who live in the Sahel do not have enough to eat, while one half live on less than a dollar a day.

Hilary Benn said: "Agrhymet is helping to increase the region’s food security – it is a fantastic example of how science can be used to benefit the poor. DFID is helping to fund similar organisations which are using research to increase food security and so reduce poverty"

Using research to increase food production

Agrhymet is also researching into the long-term impact of desertification - where topsoil is destroyed and land is unable to sustain crops or livestock. 

As part of this research, scientists are monitoring the region's climate, water resources, soil and vegetation - and helping to inform related work on increasing food production and improving the management of the region's natural resources. 

For example, most of the Sahel's population are nomadic herders - and research which shows how much fodder is available could benefit them by enabling them to manage their pastoral resources better.

As well as its monitoring and research activities, Agrhymet trains students from Niger and other Sahel countries - in 2002 it launched its own course in crop protection, and its degrees and diplomas have achieved international recognition.

Back to top

Key facts

• In 2004, DFID pledged £1.5 million in immediate aid to counter the locust threat to North African crops (UN news centre).
• Agrhymet works closely with members of CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research), which receives £20 million annually in funding from DFID.
• Agrhymet works under the direction of CILSS (Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel) (website is in French), which was set up in response to the droughts of the 1970s which devastated the region.

Back to top