For some years now, there have been signs that the climate is changing significantly in West Africa. Almost every country in the region has experienced a year-by-year reduction in rainfall. In the northern part of the Sahel, rainfall in the 1970s and 1980s was half the rainfall of the 1950s and 1960s. The whole water cycle was affected, with serious consequences for agriculture and food security. There has been an alteration in the pattern of rainy seasons, and the number of natural disasters has been rising. In 2008 torrential rain led to the flooding of vast cultivated areas and the loss of life, especially in Togo and Ghana. The harmattan, the dry, cold, north-easterly trade wind that blows along the coast of West Africa has weakened, particularly in Benin and Côte d’Ivoire. The increasing disruption of agricultural calendars is wreaking havoc on agricultural planning. Government help still goes no further than vague and incoherent statements, and farmers and extension workers are left to cope as best they can.