Groundbreaking Discovery Finds Niger to be the Most Groundwater-Rich Country in the Sahel Region

Niger is highly vulnerable to climate change and regularly experiences extreme weather. Rainfall is unpredictable, as floods give way to extended droughts resulting in unproductive agricultural lands and leading to widespread food insecurity. According to the World Food Programme, more than 4.4 million Nigeriens–almost 20 percent of the population–are food insecure, and nearly half of children under age five in Niger suffer from acute malnutrition.  

Since the 1970s, the Government of Niger has focused on using surface water to irrigate the country’s pastures and croplands. However, as repeated droughts rapidly deplete available surface water, new research is exploring solutions that effectively utilize the country’s groundwater instead.  

Through the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s (MCC) $437 million compact with Niger, MCC and the Government of Niger analyzed the country's groundwater to better understand what water resources are available for agriculture. 

In February 2019, Millenium Challenge Account (MCA)-Niger contracted Radar Technologies International (RTI) in partnership with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to map groundwater aquifers in a 260,000 km² region in the country’s southwestern agricultural belt,  an area almost twice the size of New York. Through RTI's WATEX® software, researchers used satellite and aerial imagery to detect shallow and deep aquifers that are invisible at the ground level.  

“Through the mapping of groundwater resources, farmers in Niger can better target where they should invest in groundwater-sourced agricultural development opportunities,” said Brian Pattullo, Associate Director on MCC’s Environmental and Social Performance team. “These mapped resources can also be of great value to Nigerien authorities charged with planning sustainable agricultural, urban, and rural residential development in Niger, as well as areas that should be targeted for conservation to ensure sustainable groundwater recharge.” 

The innovative technology identified approximately 50 billion cubic meters of available groundwater with an estimated annual recharge of 2 billion cubic meters. This is nearly ten times more water volume than in Lake Chad, the country’s largest source of surface water after the Niger River. This groundbreaking discovery qualifies Niger as the most groundwater-rich country in the Sahel region. 

Over the past two decades, Niger has experienced nine episodes of acute drought and five major floods, with devastating impacts on the country’s agricultural sector. Droughts and floods are projected to increase in frequency, which will negatively affect agriculture and food security and increase the prevalence of diseases and rural poverty. Small-scale farmers in Niger are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate variability. By tapping into its abundant groundwater resources, the country can irrigate up to 2 million hectares of arable land overlying these aquifer systems, enabling small-scale farmers to better feed their families, sell their surplus crops for profit, and strengthen their resilience to climate change.   

Building on the RTI project, MCC and MCA-Niger are supporting USAID with the development of an economic model to visualize and optimize the use of the mapped groundwater resources. The model will inform Niger’s efforts to design evidence-based policies to best utilize its groundwater resources.  

Temperatures in the Sahel region are rising 1.5 times faster than in the rest of the world.  As temperatures continue to rise in Niger, the country’s agricultural sector will become increasingly vulnerable, jeopardizing the livelihoods of millions of Nigeriens. But by investing in its precious groundwater resources, Niger can improve its water and food security, while progressing towards economic prosperity in the face of the changing climate.