An experiment in land rehabilitation: the catalytic effect of Dimitra Clubs in Niger
Idrissa and his wife Ramatou live in the village of Tinkirana, in the Tahoua region of Niger. Like most of the men and women of their community and others across sub-Saharan Africa, they struggle with the effects of climate change on a daily basis.
In recent years, a combination of declining average rainfall and increasing land degradation has meant that many in Tinkirana and much of rural Niger have suffered from a series of poor harvests and severe food shortages.
Idrissa’s farmland too, was severely degraded. Last year, he harvested only 150 bales of millet. But this year has been different for Idrissa and Ramatou, thanks to the collective will and work of their fellow villagers, and the catalytic effect of the FAO Dimitra Clubs.
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The FAO-Dimitra programme centres on a highly successful gender-transformative approach developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Dimitra Clubs are made up of groups of rural women and men equipped with solar and crank radios and mobile phones. They meet regularly to discuss the challenges they face in their daily lives, make decisions together and take collective action to solve community problems with local resources. Success stories are then broadcast on local radio stations in order to inspire other Dimitra Clubs. Since 2006, 1500 Dimitra Clubs have been set up in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, the Niger and Senegal. |
The Dimitra Clubs of Tinkirana began as part of a larger FAO initiative to improve community resilience to climate change and increase agricultural production in the area. Through a mix of brainstorming sessions, dialogues and discussions within the clubs, the villagers — both men and women — were able to come to a better shared understanding of the food deficit they faced, its underlying causes, and ways to address it. As a result, they decided on a series of adaptation strategies. These included growing off-season crops and setting up mini cereal banks, both of which can help ensure food availability during lean periods.
Confronting the problems of climate change
In particular, the members of Tinkirana’s Dimitra Clubs confronted the problems of declining rainfall and soil degradation. Recognizing that land rehabilitation techniques are key to fighting degradation and increasing the amount of land available for agriculture, they mobilized members of the community to work together on a ‘trial’ or pilot project. They knew that if the experiment turned out to be a success, it would not only serve as a proof of concept for the rest of the village, but also increase community awareness on land rehabilitation techniques and their benefits.
Together, they selected an area of degraded land on the outskirts of the village, and worked collectively to dig and prepare the land, creating a series of demi-lunes or half-moons in the earth. This water-harvesting technique uses semicircular earth embankments to collect and store rainwater and prevent runoff, providing a simple but innovative way to rehabilitate degraded land and improve crop production in areas with low average rainfall.
The land chosen by the members of the Dimitra Clubs was Idrissa’s. And thanks to the success of the ‘trial,’ Idrissa’s millet harvest went from 150 bales to 800 — without the use of any chemical or organic fertilizers.
Results of the experiment
Idrissa and Ramatou were not the only ones to reap the benefits of the collective land rehabilitation experiment. As is common for rural women in many parts of the world, the women of Tinkirana have very little access to land, and many of the village women had been asking for plots on which to cultivate their crops. When the village chief saw the results of the trial, he granted the women a large plot of land at the edge of the village. Being degraded land, it had never been farmed before. But the women divided it up amongst themselves and, with the support of the whole village, soon put it to good use.
Today, the results of the experiment are clear: the women of Tinkirana have permanent access to land, and the community of Tinkirana, as a whole, has improved its agricultural production and food security — sustainably.