In the second of three blogs, Jane Barrett meets the teams of Nigerien herders working to ensure they can buy and sell animals and grain at fair prices.
The third day of our journey to Dakoro in the south of Niger is a big day, as food will be distributed to nomadic herders. The needs of these herders can’t be identified beforehand, as was the case yesterday with the villagers, so each will have to be asked about their situation before being allowed to buy the subsidised grains.
The herders have already gathered when we arrive in Kombila – some have been waiting here for several days. There are many Touaregs, with their swathes of turban, some of whom also have huge straw hats with ostrich tails. The herders know each other, so they’re asked to take responsibility in helping to identify those truly in need of help.
I talk with some widows hoping they will receive grain for free. One is Oma, 45, whose husband died when he fell in a well. “My animals have no food,” she says, explaining that they have to cut branches off trees to give them some leaves to eat. “You wouldn’t believe how thin my animals are unless you see it with your own eyes.” She too plans to go north, hoping that soon there will be rain.
In the afternoon we head to the animal market at Bermo. Many herders are forced to sell their animals to buy grain, but the lack of harvest has caused grain prices to surge, and the herders’ desperation to sell their animals means they get less grain for each animal they sell. Worse still, many herders cannot afford to wait on the market until their animals are sold, so intermediaries “offer to help”, often giving them an unfair price for their animals, unbeknown to the herders, and charging them a fee.
We are given an audience with the mayor, who tells us that AREN has done great work by setting up economic interest groups – teams of herders who are trying to reclaim the market from intermediaries, and ensure they get a fair price for their animals. These herders have taken classes and created a business plan which received the mayor’s blessing. Unfortunately the coup d’etat in February has put a hold on their plans, but they are hopeful that one day soon the administration will be cleared.
Also, AREN has given animals to some women to ensure they have a means to generate an income. Ouma Bermo, although grateful to have been chosen to receive some animals, says it has yet to generate an income for her, as she will only be able to sell the animals in September. For now she has received grain from AREN to feed them.
Herders are victims of a vicious speculative cycle. Now is the period in between harvests and the most difficult period for them, forcing them to sell animals in exchange for expensive grain. In September, when the harvest starts and they have grain, they will want to restock their animals. But because the supply of grain is high at that time of the year, they will get a low price for it, while the price of animals will have surged.
The economic group is hoping to buy the animals at the currently low prices, then sell them again in September, countering the speculative cycle. At the moment they don’t have the money – a lot of smiling and winking happens as they tell me this – but they hope to get it.
In the evening Ouma comes over with some friends who have also been following AREN’s evening courses. She wants to practice her French. For someone who is illiterate and whose mother tongue is Haussa, her courage and determination impress me. As the conversation of the other women drifts away from “conjugating the verb ‘to work’”, Ouma turns and, with the help of a flashlight, continues to read from her exercise book, occasionally gently corrected by her eight-year-old daughter.