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Nature and EnvironmentAfrica

Vegetables in the Sahel

Gerlind Vollmer
July 18, 2018

When the rain comes too late or not at all, it can be a matter of life and death for Mali's farmers. Vegetable gardens with smart irrigation can save them.

https://p.dw.com/p/31efX
Two people plowing field in Mali
Image: G. Vollmer

Mali: Resisting Climate Change

Project goal: Improving resilience against the effects of climate change in Mali
Project partners: Ministry of the Environment, Sanitation and Sustainable Development - Mali, Agency for Environment and Sustainable Development (AEDD) - Mali, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
Project funding: The project was supported with €7.9 million (US$9.17 million) by the German Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) as part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI)
Project duration: July 2014 to December 2019

Farmers in Mali are being hit hard by climate change. This year, as in recent years, the rainy season started too late and brought little precipitation. Farmers are particularly affected. Ordinary corn, for example, needs four months before it bears fruit. So when the rainy season is cut short, the harvest is lost. Corn varieties that ripen faster exist but yield less crop. In such a situation, a vegetable garden can become a life insurance policy. In the village Sebekoro 1, the NGO Pacindha has helped the women of the village set up a vegetable garden with drip irrigation as a measure to adapt to climate change.

A film by Gerlind Vollmer