Today the big animals are gone and little stands in the way of the Sahara sweeping south. These arid grasslands are home to an exploding human population. Family compounds dot the fields and hillsides. But soil quality in marginal. Growing numbers of people stress the carrying capacity of the environment.
Severe problems lie ahead.
The remote village of Farende participated in an experimental project to grow spirulina. Solar panels charge truck batteries that drive the paddlewheels in the basins. A small 100 square meter basin can grow enough to supplement the diet of 100 children a day. Pouring the pond water through a screen, spirulina becomes a thick paste, and its loaded on a screen in a solar heated dryer. Dried algae is distributed at the health clinic.