My friend who was entrusted with the digital camera .. had reported some trouble .. not with the adult sheep and goats, which we had unsuccessfully tried to foil during the previous season .. but with their offspring. His dogs which are excellent sentries and have taken on the task of guarding my property when Babucar is not present, had tried their best .. but evidently these little pests were completely fearless when it came to a choice between tasty Cassava and a barking dog.
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Even my best friend Mutt, normally the scourge of any four legged .. and sometimes two legged .. strangers ( seen here looking up lovingly at me whilst I was sitting and chatting with her owner - now the official 'Dawda Kunda photographer' ) was evidently suffering from a nasty headache, having confronted one of the bravest of the juvenile raiders and been head-butted at full speed !!

The first photo of the damage which arrived by e-mail, was one of almost complete disaster ..

Luckily, the voracious appetites and tastes of these raiding mini-quadrupeds did not include anything else other than the Cassava .. so all the fruit trees and shrubs were completely untouched.
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When we attempt to beat the considerable odds against us and come to plant yet another 'farming crop' at the arrival of the rains this year .. not only will the plot be fenced of more securely than a maximum security prison, but we will be trying a variety of different crops and methods of planting.
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Although by no means 'hungry for survival' as he might be without his regular and generous salary, if Babucar had a family and was relying on farming alone for his survival .. he would be in very poor straights by now. ... as are many of the farmers throughout Africa who have similarly suffered losses of their crops due to the unusually harsh variations to the world's climate. Whether Global
Warming is to blame, or we are just going through cycles of weather whose averages should be measured in hundreds or thousands of years, rather than in our own lifetimes, I cannot say for sure.
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But it has certainly sharpened my understanding of the extra tragedies that those farmers in less developed lands across the world's poorest regions, have been suffering from over recent years.  How can you possibly survive unexpected and unusually long periods of drought, or conversely, incredibly violent storms and flooding .. to say nothing of the threats from all manners of pests and diseases .. if your entire livelihood solely depends on the crops in your fields being successful.
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Yes, I am sure any farmers reading this in our so-called 'developed countries', are muttering;
"It's the same for all us farmers, why is this amateur newbie suddenly highlighting it ?"
But farmers in the third world regions I am talking about, have no recourse to recompense from their governments or grants for machinery, fertilisers and pesticides from EC Farming Grant Schemes or other similar institutions. Neither can they claim social security payments, if disaster strikes and no money at all is coming in to support their families.
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We are all used to seeing reports of famines and other 'natural disasters' in our news media .. when wars are not involved. My small endeavours so far have shown just a few of the many problems that are encountered and surmounted by these hardy folk. My hat is off to them in respect .. Babucar and I must try harder !