YOU can grow food in the unlikeliest of places, it seems. Here in Djenné, Mali, a green-fingered local takes some time to look after his garden.
Photographer Timothy Allen took the picture while in Mali to photograph the annual restoration of the Great Mosque of Djenné. "By chance I stumbled across the scene during an evening stroll," he says. "The garden stood out from the very yellowy mudbrick colour of Djenné."
During the dry season the Bani river, seen in the background, shrinks back and exposes the mass of litter and debris thrown away by Djenné's 33,000 inhabitants. While the town's population normally uses mud from the river banks as a building material, this farmer took advantage of the damp riverbed and nearby water supply to grow some crops. "The area he was working in would be underwater during the rainy season," says Allen.
Many farmers have been displaced by conflict in the north of Mali and the United Nations has emphasised that they must be helped to return to their lands – though this farmer's story is unknown. Allen suggests he could be growing herbs or cassava for himself and his family.
The image won Allen a runner-up prize in the Travel Photographer of the Year 2012 competition. A selection of the photos is now on display at the Royal Geographical Society in London.
This article appeared in print under the headline "Island of green"
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