Rising temperatures devastating Africa’s small farmers

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http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/africa/rising-temperatures-devastating-africa-s-small-farmers-1.1358868


Sitting in front of her mud-and-straw hut, surrounded by her children, Djenabou Diallo waits.

She waits for the food which she hopes her husband will bring home after a day’s foraging in the forest. She waits for the rains which never seem to come on time these days. She waits for a repeat of the aid which last year fended off starvation. And ultimately, she waits for the hope of better times ahead.

Africa’s achievements and failures are only too evident as the midday sun burns over this dusty village in central Senegal. It is a miracle that Djenabou’s 10 children have been delivered safely and both she and the children are in reasonable health. But their single-room house is bare and so are their food stocks.

We are in the lean season, when the fruits of last year’s harvest start running out and the nervous wait begins for a rainy season that will allow crops to be sown. “My husband brings home wild berries from the forest and wood to make charcoal with,” she explains. “But we have no animals, not even a cock, and no tools to work the fields.”