Failed rains put over 10 million people at risk of famine across West Africa by UN News / WFP / Oxfam & agencies 2:32am 26th May, 2010   20 July 2010    Niger: Why People Are Going Hungry. (WFP)    Hunger is an ever-present problem in extremely poor countries like Niger, but a hard drought last year has made a bad situation immeasurably worse. WFP"s Director for West Africa, Thomas Yanga, explains why so many people in Niger are going hungry and what"s being done to help them.    What is the main cause of hunger in Niger this year?    Most people in Niger rely on rain-fed agriculture or herding for food. But the rains last year were too little and too late, which caused massive crop failures and dried up much of the grazing land. At the same time, high food prices from the year before have never quite come down, meaning that people who didn"t grow enough food this year can"t afford to buy more.    Niger is in an arid part of the world. Don"t the people have traditional methods of helping them to cope with drought?    Yes, they do. Herders migrate and farmers have adapted techniques to handle the dry climate. But they can only cope with so much. The crop failures last year were truly exceptional. Very early on, we saw massive migration to the cities and even neighbouring countries. Traditional coping has reached its limits.    What is the impact of this drought on malnutrition among children?    We know from the government"s June nutrition survey and reports from local health centres that there has been an alarming increase in child malnutrition. Our fear is that this will have a serious impact on levels of child mortality.    What are the long-term consequences of such a large number children going for long periods of time without enough food to eat?    Children who are deprived of adequate nutrition have an increased risk of illness and death, and can suffer irreversible damage to their development. In the short-term we expect to see rising levels of child mortality and in the long-term, many more children who will not grow or develop mentally as they might have otherwise.    What is WFP doing to help malnourished children?    WFP is rolling out a large-scale feeding operation to provide foods fortified with vitamins and nutrients for all children under two suffering from malnutrition in the worst-affected parts of the country. We''ll of course also be providing food assistance to the rest of the family to make sure there is enough for everyone. We"ll also be providing medical treatment for those who succumb to malnourishment, nursing mothers in particular.    What can be done in countries like Niger to help prepare them for severe droughts in the future?    It"s crucial to help communities build up their livelihoods so that they"ll be more resilient to droughts in the future. We can also help to build "safety nets" that protect people from going hungry when harvests fail or prices rise unexpectedly. Long-term, higher agricultural output and lower population growth would make these crises less likely to repeat. But that means improving living conditions in rural areas and providing farmers with access to water, credit, education and healthcare.    30 May 2010    Drought and failing harvests bring new fears of a food disaster. (The Independent)    The threat of famine is again stalking the Sahel, a band of semi-arid land stretching across Africa south of the Sahara. Its countries constitute a virtual list of the worst famines in recent decades: Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia. The UN World Food Programme is warning that some 10 million people face hunger over the next three months.    Thomas Yanga, WFP"s regional director for West Africa, said: "People have lost crops, livestock, and the ability to cope on their own, and the levels of malnutrition among women and children have already risen to very high levels."    Oxfam says that eight million people are at risk in Niger, with a further two million in Chad in jeopardy, and that the situation is "going to get extremely bad". Too often in the past, food crises get attention only when there are dead bodies and distended bellies to film. The UN, aid agencies and governments are trying to sound a loud alarm before mass deaths start to occur.    The UN"s humanitarian chief, John Holmes, said at the end of a four-day visit to neighbouring Chad that many Chadians have gone as far as Libya to search for food. "The level of malnutrition is already beyond the danger point," he said. "If we do not act now, or as quickly as possible, there is a chance the food crisis will become a disaster."    In Niger, some say the growing food crisis could be worse than the one that struck the country in 2005, when aid organisations treated tens of thousands of children for malnutrition. "We have lost so much we cannot count," said one 45-year-old tribesman with a family of 20 to feed. He and others on Gadabeji Reserve drive starving donkeys through the burnt orange haze of a sandstorm to gather what little water they can on the desiccated plain and struggle to draw water from private wells.    Oxfam"s humanitarian director, Jane Cocking, says: "It is a very serious situation. That doesn"t mean that everyone will be starving and dying in the streets, but it would mean that millions would have only, say, one meal every two days – and that of very low nutritional value."    Across Niger, the harvest has fallen by 26 per cent compared with last year, with some areas, in both the east and west of the country, having a complete failure of crops. In Chad, harvests are down 34 per cent. Mamadou Biteye, Oxfam"s West Africa regional director, has said: "We are witnessing an unfolding disaster which can be averted if the world acts swiftly. Five years ago, the world ignored the warning signs from Niger, failed to act rapidly and many lives were lost." Oxfam will shortly launch a special appeal.    Famine is nothing new to Niger, a former French colony nearly twice the size of Texas. The Sahel cuts across the southern half of the country, serving as the dividing line between the sands of the Sahara to the north and the farmlands of neighbouring Nigeria. Severe droughts have punctuated the region"s history for centuries. Yet, agriculture serves as the sole economic engine for a country where little more than a quarter of the population knows how to read. Generation after generation follows worn seasonal tracks, their belongings often fitted on to a single donkey-drawn pallet.    Typically, the herders move south at the onset of December, searching for grazing lands. But this year they found only dried lakes and diminishing wells, said Hasane Baka, a regional administrator for Aren, a Nigerian development group for cattlemen.    "People were moving in all directions," Mr Baka said. Some have crossed into Nigeria, begging for food on the streets. Others remain behind with their cattle, knowing the livestock would die on a long trip south that could end with Nigerian police simply turning them back. Instead, they wait for rains that do not come.    Even in better times, roughly half of Niger"s children suffered stunted growth. Now mothers walk their children up to 20 miles to reach one of two aid stations operated by Médecins Sans Frontières, according to Barbara Maccagno, the agency"s medical coordinator in Niger. She said the number of children that the two stations now see has doubled in recent weeks to about 1,000 children a week.    Ms Maccagno said her agency could offer children meals of vitamin-enriched powdered milks and other foods to help bring their weight up, but many children need up to five weeks to gain a stable weight. During that time, the mother must stay with the child, which is impossible for those who left others behind, she said.    Other agencies, such as Oxfam, hand out cereals and grains directly to nomadic families living in the bush, but money for such aid is short because of the global economic downturn. The WFP said it has a $96m shortfall for a programme it planned for 1.5 million people in the worst-hit areas of Niger.    Mar 2010 (Oxfam International)    10 million people across the Sahel region of West Africa are threatened with a severe food shortage. The worst affected country is Niger where 8 million people are at risk. Some 2 million people are threatened in Chad and a substantial number of people are expected to be affected in Mali in the coming months. Parts of Nigeria and Burkina Faso are also at risk.    The agency called upon developed countries to respond urgently to the early warning of impending disaster, citing delays during the Niger food crisis in 2005 that unnecessarily cost lives.    "We are witnessing an unfolding disaster which can be averted if the world acts swiftly. Five years ago the world ignored the warning signs from Niger, failed to act rapidly and too many lives were lost. The international community cannot make the same mistake and again condemn many children to an early death," said Mamadou Biteye Oxfam"s West Africa Regional Director.    Irregular rains in 2009 have led to a severe lack of pasture, water and a poor harvest. In Niger, the harvest has fallen by 26 percent as compared with the previous year, and some areas, have had no harvest at all. In Chad, harvests have fallen by 34 percent. Overall, the harvest in the Sahel has decreased by 9 percent with great disparities between East and West Sahel.    Prices of cereals are high and increasing. Millet and sorghum prices are up to respectively 25 and 50 percent higher than a year ago in Niger. Pastoralists are especially vulnerable as they depend on animals for their food and income.    "With not enough fodder, herders are desperate to sell their animals, driving livestock prices lower and lower," explains Hassane Baka, a representative of Oxfam"s partner AREN in Niger. "This means that for each animal sold on the market, pastoralists get less cereal with which to feed their families."    Oxfam called on donors to respond to the government of Niger"s request for international humanitarian assistance. While the authorities have some food reserves, these are currently not sufficient. Up to $123 million was requested to fund the national response plan. The agency also called on donors to address increasing needs in Chad and Mali.    Oxfam also called on all countries in the region to keep their borders open. In 2005, the situation was made worse when neighboring countries closed their borders with Niger. This limited the availability of food and increased inflation. The agency also stressed the need for good coordination between governments, UN agencies, and local and international NGOs to ensure efficient aid delivery. Visit the related web page
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