

Poor soils, low rainfall and limited access to agricultural inputs have long made farming very difficult, inefficient and less attractive in Falwel, which lies 197 kilometers from Niger’s capital city Niamey and is heavily dependent on agriculture. Crop production here has been severely tested by several decades of climate change and severe drought. Access to improved seeds was a major problem and farmers grew a single and poorly-adapted local variety, which they called ’mil tardif’ or ’late maturing millet’, given its long cycle unsuitable for their region’s diminishing rainfall