Irrigation ditch in Niger

Nothing grows during the dry season in the Sahel. Most of the farmers have to travel to cities to find work.

But now, the West African country of Niger has a new irrigation program for its part of the Sahel. We have to develop this new irrigation system!

Irrigation allows farmers to grow a second crop during the dry season, in addition to their usual crop in the wet season. One farmer says that raising two crops a year means he can stay on his village land.

Adamou Sani, a farmer, says, "Dry-season crops are such a normal practice now but we need more help and money in order to extend this new irrigation system to other villages. Before, each year after the harvest, I went to the city to look for work. But today, with the dry-season crops, I have work in the village. It is a good thing."

Niger's irrigation program is one way Africans are improving their lives. Africans are also finding ways to meet economic, social, and environmental challenges.