If you ate a corn on the cob, green beans or some spring onions in the UK this winter, chances are it would have come from one of two farms at the edge of the Sahara, in the north of Senegal.

The West African nation is becoming an important player in the UK's food supply. Is that a good thing?

Hidden behind green leaves and thick stalks you can hear Diarra at work before you see her.

The cobs of corn she's harvesting are so abundant and the plants so tall, she's almost lost in a sea of maize. And the job at hand is tough.

This far north in Senegal, so close to the desert, temperatures can exceed 35C at this time of the year, and there's little or no rainfall.

Working at speed and with sunhats on, Diarra and her team of pickers make a steady sound of rustling, followed by a thud-thud, as they strip the cobs off each plant and place them in soft buckets strapped to their backs.

Within an hour, the cobs will be inside a refrigerated pack-house and chilled down to 0C. Soon after, they'll be driven by truck to a port near the capital, Dakar, and loaded onto a container ship. Six days later, they'll be on sale inside a British supermarket.