Satellites and social protection helping prevent food insecurity in Niger

“Right now, climate change is affecting our lives in so many ways. When rain isn’t plentiful in the rainy season, we have to be very patient,” says Adiza Saydi, a mother of five children who invested in market gardening.

Adiza and thousands of families in the commune of Tagaza had been struggling to get water for their crops after a disappointing rainy season in 2021. With food and fuel prices reaching record high, and climate change threatening their harvest, food insecurity was threatening the lives of people in their community.

Through the Sahel Adaptive Social Protection Program, financed by a multi-donor trust fund and supported by the International Development Association (IDA), the emergency drought response was activated, and more than 100,000 families benefited from emergency monthly transfer to offset poor harvests across the country.

 Social protection programs are often the first response to food insecurity and climate shocks. But in this case, the innovation is the preventive approach. The government with the support of the World Bank and partners, is using satellite early warning data to identify drought-affected areas and intervene early with emergency cash transfers.

Located at the heart of the Sahel, Niger has experienced repeated droughts leading to growing food insecurity over the past 20 years. It is the first country in the region to develop a trigger-based adaptive safety net for drought response to provide early assistance to affected households.  

Adiza and other families also benefited from additional training and seed funding to help them increase their savings and invest in income-generating activities during the off season.  

“With what I save, I have enough to buy food to eat,” says Adiza with a bright smile. “I’ve been able to buy a motor pump and it does a good job of watering the crops. It changed our life”.