For that on blistering summer, the ground moisture was just right, planting early allowed pollination before heat withered the tops, and the lack of rain spared the standing corn from floods.

But Paquette and Messier report that planting fast-growing hybrid poplar as nursemaid species to shelter slower-growing trees shows promising early results.

The winter planting season, starting end May, early June, will soon be upon us in the Sahel. It lasts three months on average.