Twenty-five years ago Abdullahi Tijjani had a vision for Kuki, a village in the north of Nigeria he became chief of at age 14: "Hunger will become a thing of the past once we marry modern technologies and traditional farming," he told reporter David Hecht when they met in 1984 in the mud-brick structure he called his palace.
African Famines Examined
Published September 15, 2009
Famines often occur during times of drought, but their causes go much deeper than a lack of rain. With East Africa now facing widespread hunger, we look back at a major food crisis that struck the Western African nation of Niger in 2005. Reporter David Hecht examines the roots of that crisis and finds some of them stretching across Niger’s border, to the neighboring country of Nigeria.
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Students at School Without Walls explore the tension between financial insecurity and nutritional needs.
A generation ago, the African nation of Nigeria launched a plan to embrace modern farming. But today the country is more dependent than ever on imported food.
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David Hecht has reported from Africa for more than 20 years and in 1994, co-authored a book on contemporary Africa titled “Invisible Governance”. He has contributed to such publications as Fortune,...
