Voices from the field

Far from the cool coastal temperatures of the Senegalese capital Dakar lies Bady, a dusty, dry village in Eastern Senegal.

Sitting on the edge of Western Africa's Sahel region, Bady village is being swept up in a wave of drought and hunger. With temperatures of over 40°C, it's the middle of the dry season and the intense heat is taking its toll on the 1012 people who live here.

Tamba Cissokho, a farmer who lives in the village revealed the full extent of the problem, with last year's poor harvest leaving his family struggling to put food on the table. "The situation today is the worst I’ve known in my life."

"Last year's harvest was really bad. We only managed to harvest 5kg of peanuts, millet and maize, and if we eat three meals a day, I need 200kg of food per month to feed my family."

He explains that crops planted in the already sun-scorched earth failed to grow as the last season's rains did not come. With the ground dry and turning to dust, finally the rains arrived. But instead of swelling the crops ahead of harvest, the crops were washed away in flash floods as the dry land could not absorb the rainwater.

Left with very little, Tamba and his family have turned to less traditional methods to fill their stomachs. "We try to increase the quantity of food by collecting wild leaves from the forest which is 5km from here, which we mix in with flour.

With the dry period set to continue through to June at least, when the next rains are due, Tamba is worried for his family’s future.

"We don't have enough food... Our children are getting sick and some villagers are developing some problems with their vision," he tells me. When we do have food, it’s the kids who eat first. But we need support – food for now and help to boost the capacity of our farming."

ActionAid is providing emergency food aid to the Tambacouda and Kedougou regions in Senegal, and has a number of long-term projects in the region helping to make the area more food secure.

In The Gambia, where 57% of the population live on less than 2 dollars per day, a poor farming season is a major setback for families trying to break free from the shackles of poverty. As a mother of 7 children, Nuimi Fatti is no different. 

Each year, Nuimi and her husband farm watermelon, millet and rice.

She meticulously describes the financial investment they made into field preparation last year and the anxiety she felt when each crop failed. After a mild harvest a few years back, Nuimi began planting rice by the nearest river to supplement their food. 

She explains how the rice fields have been completely destroyed by hippos this year, making their food situation increasingly desperate. ‘‘Last year, the rice we harvested in the fields near the river lasted four months, this year it barely lasted a day’’. The community doesn’t have the resources to protect the fields. 

Without income from the harvest, Nuimi is resorting to selling off her livestock so she can continue to feed the family.

‘‘Since January, I have been selling one animal per week. Now I am left with one last sheep’’ she says, ‘‘when this sheep is finally sold, our fate is left to God’’. 

The livestock market prices continue to fall as farmers like Nuimi resort to this coping strategy.

As Nuimi spoke, a dark cloud swept over the drab landscape. Minutes later, a gentle shower wet the faces of children peering into the clouds.

In a country where rain does not fall for 9 months out of the year, these raindrops in the middle of the dry season are a reminder of the erratic weather patterns witnessed across the world. They do not bring solace to the farmers.  

All photos: ActionAid

Amat Joof, 38, is a cereal farmer in the northern region of The Gambia. Like most farmers in this part of the world, his harvest failed due to an erratic rainy season. 

He said goodbye to his wife last January when she left to seek work in Senegal.  He hasn’t heard from her since. 

Now, he and his brother are sharing the responsibility for 13 children in his compound.  His family is facing deepening poverty in the coming months. 

Each year Amat depends on income from corn, millet and groundnuts. They eat the millet and use money from groundnuts and corn to pay school fees, cooking materials and vegetables to supplement the family’s diet.

Amat says his remaining millet stock will finish this week. It normally lasts until July.

While Amat believes his family can cope during the crisis, the main cause of Amat’s worry is having seeds for the next growing season.

"We must keep going and we must try again’’, he says. While they always save seeds from the harvest, the seeds this year are such a low quality they will likely fail.

He is hoping his wife will be able to bring back groundnuts from Senegal they can use to plant in July. Amat speaks of his small village of 220 people, and says  "this year nobody is better than the other. We are running out of options, but by the grace of god we will get through this’’. 

Due to the emerging food crisis across the Sahel, aid agencies are spread thin and it is becoming increasingly difficult to reach the millions of people affected.

For Amat and his community, tucked 20 kilometers off the main road on the northern Gambian border, they have little hope for any support. 

This week, President Abdoulaye Wade made way for Mackay Sall who was sworn into office after taking a resounding 65.8% of the vote in the Senegal elections held on 25th March. But will President Sall’s election bring about the change that some of Senegal’s poorest people are desperate to see?


Far away from the lively ceremonies in Place Obelisque, villagers in Eastern Senegal are struggling to cope with the impacts of a drought crisis that is rapidly spreading across the Sahel region.


Sitting under a mango tree that she planted when she moved to Gomba, a suburb of Kedougou, 30 years ago, 60 year old Dieynabou Diallo told me about the problems they are facing. She said:
 "At the moment, it’s very difficult. We don’t have enough to eat. Hunger kills. If you don’t eat you’ll fall ill and you’ll die. We need food aid now."

A failed harvest and increasing food prices are forcing people to reduce the number of meals they eat per day to one or two. And the situation is predicted to worsen in the coming months as the drought continues to bite.


Now that the election campaigns are over, the people of East Senegal are hoping the government will switch its attentions to tackling hunger, and they will be encouraged by President Sall’s commitment to address rising food prices, in his first address to the nation. 


The previous President’s reluctance to give the go-ahead to distribute food aid ahead of the polls has led to delays in getting food to the people who need it most.
 With over 850,000 people – 10% of the population – going hungry every day, it seems the situation in the villages will get worse before it improves.


Food reserves have long run out in most areas, forcing villagers to reduce the quantity and quality of the food they eat and the government needs to act fast if a crisis is to be averted.


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