Niger: Loans for crop storage help farmers absorb climate shock
Surveying his village's stocks of rice, sesame, millet and other food in a storehouse piled high with bags, Amadou Hassane is satisfied - but still a little anxious about the oversupply of baobab leaves.
With the rainy season set to start soon in Niger, Hassane and his fellow farmers need buyers for their leaves before the rains come, driving the prices down as fresh leaves sprout and supply surges across the western region of Tillabery.
"Life is hard because it is difficult to know when the first rains will come," Hassane told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, holding a list of each farmer's contribution to the village's stockpile.
"But we are lucky to have this warrantage system in place, because it means we can sell when the price is good, rather than being forced to do so right away after harvest," he added.
Because of a lack of storage facilities, many farmers across the developing world have no choice but to sell their produce after harvest, usually at low prices because supplies are plentiful at that time.
UncleBucko