What has caused tremendous hunger and suffering in the Sahel region of Africa? Drought. With drastic climate change taking place, droughts are creating food shortages in this region.
There is a crop that has tremendous resistance to drought. It is called fonio. It is a small, but very nutritious, cereal. This grain has been around so long, there are even stories of how the universe originated from it.
The charity International Relief and Development is trying to expand the growth and sale of fonio in Burkina Faso, one of the Sahel countries. IRD is using funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food for Progress program.
They are helping farmers grow more fonio, and assisting them to sell it on the market. With fonio a bigger part of the farming strategy, they will have a food supply that can grow even during times of drought. Fonio requires little water to grow.
IRD thinks fonio can be spread to many more countries to help them adapt to drought. The Feed the Future program, which the Senate still needs to vote on, also supports programs to help farmers grow fonio.
This is another reason why food and agriculture programs need support. The Food for Progress and Feed the Future initiatives can help small farmers grow fonio and other nutritious crops. Farmers can grow more resistance to drought. That is a major step to ending hunger and the threat of famine.
Read the full article at Examiner.
Author William Lambers 