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Summary: Millions of people in Niger could face severe food shortages again next year if donor countries fail to maintain aid funding as the crisis slips from the international agenda, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
[DAKAR, 23 November 2005] - Millions of people in Niger could face severe food shortages again next year if donor countries fail to maintain aid funding as the crisis slips from the international agenda, the United Nations said on Wednesday. Starvation threatened the lives of tens of thousands of children and left millions of adults hungry earlier this year after drought and locusts destroyed crops in the West African country, one of the world's poorest. "It will take only the slightest adversity to push families over the edge again," Gian Carlo Cirri, head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in Niger, said in a statement. Medical teams have been treating tens of thousands of malnourished children in eastern Niger, on the fringe of the Sahara desert. Emergency food supplies were airlifted to feeding centres around the region ahead of the October harvest. But WFP - which has already supplied food aid to nearly three million people - said more than 1.2 million had cereal stocks that would last only three more months, while a further two million had enough to last a maximum of five months. It said it needed $20 million to extend its emergency operation until March next year or else food supplies could be disrupted within a matter of weeks. "Niger has sadly slipped down the international agenda, which could have disastrous consequences for those who are still suffering from the effects of this year's crisis," Cirri said. SLOW RESPONSE Niger's government warned late last year that 3.6 million people faced severe hunger in the arid, landlocked country but donations only poured in on the scale needed in July after images of starving children were broadcast around the world. Aid workers blamed donor nations for failing to heed appeals from UN agencies and from the government, pointing out that the cost to donors of saving a starving child is much greater than the cost of feeding them to avert a crisis. The government said on Wednesday that this year's cereal harvest had produced a surplus of around 21,000 tonnes of millet, sorghum and maize, compared to a deficit of 223,000 tonnes last year when locusts and drought took their toll. But it said that 1.8 million people in more than 1,000 villages still faced food shortages after rains ended early. WFP said the market price of millet and sorghum was still above the average of recent years, potentially putting it beyond the reach of the families most at need. It also said agricultural production was not as healthy as it could be because many farmers had been forced to sell animals to get cash or to leave their villages in search of work. "If people can't afford to buy the food they need again next year it is very possible that they will face a situation similar to this year," Cirri said. (For more news about emergency relief visit Reuters AlertNet