Farmers in the Anthropocene (21 minutes)

Those Who Feed Us

Those Who Feed Us
Farmers in the Anthropocene (21 minutes)
In the highlands outside Antananarivo, David Andriamihaja can still describe the calendar his father taught him, the one that told a farmer when to sow and when to expect rain. That calendar stopped working fifteen years ago.

This episode follows farmers in Madagascar and Nigeria who are relearning their own land from scratch. Tahiry Razafiarimihaja watches the forests she grew up fearing to enter alone disappear into bare, mineral-stripped soil.
Hadiza Sabo in Nasarawa State plants after the first rains, only to watch the sand dry out and the seedlings die before they root, then plants again. There is no irrigation where she farms, only wells that run dry by the middle of the year.

Across both countries, the same arithmetic repeats: broken seasons, shrinking water, and a market that rewards the trader over the grower. As cities expand and farmers are pushed toward becoming consumers rather than producers, the stakes are not abstract. As David puts it, a country cannot develop without farmers fulfilling their role.
PRODUCTION CREDITS

Featuring David Andriamihaja / Hadiza Sabo Dibrim / Tahiry Razafiarimihaja
Executive Producer Wangui Kimari
Creative Director Jim Chuchu
Producer Njeri Gitungo
Country Productions A Hauteur d'Homme / Movement Lab Collective
Research Lead Brock Hicks
Project Communications Cynthia Kemunto
Post Production Africa Post Office (APO)
Post Production Supervisor Carole Kinyua
Editors Gloria Ndiritu / Winnie Ndirangu
Supervising Editor Jim Chuchu
Next Episode
An Emptying Sea
Fishers in the Anthropocene