Try vegetables

MONTPELLIER, France - How can Africa ease hunger, improve women's lives, and adapt to climate change in one stroke? By growing vegetables, researchers advise.

Efforts to curb persistent hunger in Africa usually focus on boosting yields of grain and other staple crops. But in the Sahel region, where farmers have long battled droughts, more than 2,500 women are now growing greens, tomatoes, onions, eggplants, and other nutritious crops in small plots near their homes, using seeds specially bred for local conditions and drip-irrigation systems that save scarce water.

In a region where the average daily wage is about $1 a day, many women are now earning over $4 a day in sales from their gardens, as well as supplying their families with food rich in nutrients that are often missing from local diets. Crop failures, which used to happen every two and a half year on average, are no longer a problem.

"This is how you grow yourself out of poverty," said Dyno Keatinge, who heads the World Vegetable Centre, which supports the "African market garden" project with seeds and expertise.

- The Ethiopian Review.