Climate change had ravaged the once-fertile landscapes, leaving them barren and unproductive. For Haruna and many others, the only hope for a better life lay in migrating to other areas in search of greener pastures. However, all that changed when the World Food Programme introduced a revolutionary community-based asset creation program designed to restore the ecosystem and assist the poorest communities in Niger.
The intervention aims to create productive assets through a land restoration program that uses the half-moon technique to restore vegetation on previously arid lands. The half-moon technique involves digging crescent-shaped basins that help parched and degraded soils retain rainwater longer. The excavated soil is then deposited on the downhill edges of each pond, forming terrace systems that help distribute water evenly and support the surrounding vegetation.
Along with land recovery measures, the intervention includes several support activities that promote community resilience and environmental sustainability. For instance, it encourages market gardening - a sustainable agricultural activity that involves the small-scale production of high-nutritional-value crops such as fruits, vegetables, and herbs for sale or consumption.
Through this initiative, the WFP is building livelihoods, boosting resilience to ecosystem degradation, and restoring ecological balance. In a place where deforestation, over-cultivation, and overgrazing were rampant, the WFP's land restoration activities have transformed the landscape, bringing back biodiversity and reviving the once-dead vegetation.