„Now we eat three meals a day”

On Halimé Hamza’s farm in the small village of Ndongilo in the south of Chad, the chickens run and cluck in a race. A rooster crows. They are looking for grains. The 25-year-old farmer Halimé chases the chickens away again and again. “They are bred and later sold,” says Halimé. Halimé has recently become very familiar with poultry: Thanks to SWISSAID, she was able to train as a poultry farmer.

Halimé speaks softly. At first glance, she seems shy. She wears her blue printed robe skilfully wrapped around her body and head. But Halimé’s shyness is deceptive. The young woman runs and manages the family business together with her older sister and looks after the farm, house and land. She is the one who prepares the fields for cultivation and ploughs them. This requires assertiveness, perseverance and steadfastness. A total of ten people live on the farm. These include Halimé’s husband, to whom she has been married for six years, her brother-in-law, her brother and his wife, babies and children.

Here in the province of Guéra, in the centre of Africa, it is scorching hot. And dry. Before the rainy season in June, the thermometer climbs up to 45 degrees. The weather conditions are challenging; climate change has exacerbated the climatic conditions. Nine out of twelve months are characterised by drought. During the rainy season between June and September, the entire annual precipitation often falls on the dry, parched land. Droughts and floods have catastrophic consequences for people, animals and crops.

Halimé and her family live here, like almost all other farmers in the Sahel region, mainly from agriculture. They grow millet, sorghum, maize and peanuts. “Because of the climate, however, the quantity of the harvest is unpredictable. We never know what to expect,” says Halimé. Prices on the market have also become very volatile. “This year, for example, the millet and peanut harvests were not good due to insect infestation and drought at the beginning of the harvest year,” says Halimé.

SWISSAID has launched the “Resilience and food security of small-scale agricultural producers” project to strengthen farmers in Chad against the negative effects of climate change and improve their food security.

Halimé and her family lacked many things. “We had neither the technical equipment nor the agricultural resources to produce enough and earn money to survive,” says Halimé about the time before the support. SWISSAID organised various training courses for Halimé: She learned more about technical processes, acquired knowledge around the production and application of compost and organic fertiliser and learned how to operate a plough. “Everything has become much easier with the new plough,” says Halimé. “The neighbours in the village were very sceptical at first because it is not (yet) “normal” for a woman to be able to operate a plough with oxen. Now they often come to me and copy some of the techniques,” smiles Halimé.

“Now we can cultivate larger areas of land. Local, high-quality seeds and the use of organic fertilisers support the healthy growth of the plants. This allows us to produce larger quantities and earn more money,” says Halimé. The grain harvest has tripled as a result. “We normally harvest 20 sacks, but this year it was more than 50,” says Halimé happily. Unfortunately, the millet was attacked by insects that were resistant to the organic pesticide used, says Halimé. She wants to adapt the formula for the next season.

She divided up the peanut harvest: One part was sold to pay for school fees. Another was used as a food supplement. She used the proceeds from the third part to buy oxen, goats and sheep. As an investment and to diversify her production.

Thanks to the measures implemented, Halimé’s family farm has become more resilient to the effects of climate change. Their livelihoods have improved significantly, and their food supply has been sustainably secured. “Today, we regularly eat three healthy meals a day and the children no longer have to go to bed hungry,” says Halimé happily. She used to have neither breakfast nor dinner. After a long day in the fields, she would just have a cup of tea.

For the future, Halimé hopes that everyone stays healthy, that they always have enough to eat and that their living conditions continue to improve. And she has one big wish: that she will soon be able to use future profits to buy an oil press and a shelling machine to process peanuts and get a better price on the market.

In the meantime, evening has fallen in Ndongilo. The sun is setting and the temperatures are finally bearable. The chickens have gone quiet. Time to rest. Because the next day will soon begin with the first crowing of the cock.