Sustainable Agriculture & Water Management

Land-locked with 80% of the country covered by the Sahara Desert, Niger is one of the most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change. With temperature increases expected to be 1.5 times higher than the rest of the world, Niger is faced with higher inter-and intra-annual variability in rainfall, resulting in more frequent and extreme droughts and floods. This significantly impacts Niger’s already fragile soil, crop production, and availability of potable water — exacerbating pre-existing issues in a country already prone to food crises.

2 Million Nigeriens are chronically food insecure and 64% of rural Nigeriens lack access to clean water. Waterborne illness is the second biggest killer of children in Niger.

Our Sustainable Agriculture Program and our Sustainable Water Management Program ensure communities have the infrastructure and skills to establish and maintain access to safe water and nutritious food and, in doing so, to support the development of sustainable livelihoods.

We seek for these resources to be stewarded responsibly for not only productivity but conservation and longevity of use.

Sustainable Agriculture

Our program takes a grassroots approach to alleviating hunger as it provides community members with the tools, knowledge, and infrastructure to efficiently harness resources and not only provide for their own families but also for their neighbors and the wider community.

Deep wells and drip irrigation systems ensure limited water resources are used efficiently to maximize harvest outputs. Drip irrigation also helps to maximize garden yield while minimizing the work for community gardeners. To build ownership and self-sufficiency, community gardens are managed by a committee of elected community members who are also responsible for maintaining the wells and gardens. The committee establishes a savings fund which covers maintenance work and provides for organic pesticides and fertilizers needed to ensure a high crop yield.

RAIN field agents train gardeners on practices like diversification and crop rotation to help maintain both the community’s nutrition and the health of the soil. Gardeners are also trained in basic business principles to help grow the gardens beyond sustaining the community with nutritious food to sustaining the community through additional earned income.

Hariatou’s Garden Supports her Family

Hariatou lives in Tagantassou and is an active gardener through RAIN’s Sustainable Agriculture initiative. As a widow, Hariatou is solely responsible for supporting herself and her children. She is deeply grateful for the opportunity to grow nutritious food for her family and to supplement her income through crop sales.

This year, she grew varied crops including cabbage, lettuce, ...

Sustainable Water Management

We support communities to access safe water sources by drilling borehole wells, which are deep enough to provide clean water year-round. Starting in 2019, RAIN wells use a solar-powered submersible pump technology which is more efficient, more eco-friendly, and saves women and girls hours of labor.

We also install drip-irrigation systems in our community gardens to minimize water waste and ensure maximum garden productivity.