World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

With signs of growing demand for food and rising prices in Niger and neighboring countries, international organizations are coming together to prevent a full-blown crisis. (..) “Government and NGOs are important partners for WFP in implementing its activities,” said Vigno Hounkanli, Public Information Officer in Niger’s WFP Office. “There is a very good collaboration between the government and WFP which responded to the government’s early support plan to help 750,000 severely food insecure households by launching its Cash and Food for Work Program.”

Famine fatigue. (..) But try telling that to the people of Niger, or Mauritania, or to any of the other countries in the Sahel whose populations are heading for a struggle to feed their families and wondering why them, why again. (..) The good news is that governments in the region and humanitarian agencies are pulling together, taking on board some of the lessons learned from earlier crises in a bid for greater coordination ahead of the hungry months ahead.

Governments in the Sahel and international relief agencies have been quick off the mark in acknowledging a looming food crisis. (..) Part of the reason for the swift response is a change of government in Niger, ranked 186th out of 187 countries in the human development index. (..) Denise Brown, director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) office in Niger, agreed. "The government in Niger came out early and jointly with international agencies and NGOs acknowledging it needed help. My colleagues have been astonished by the change and the transparency."

By Denise Brown

I can remember those gumboots lined up in a row, from largest to smallest. All of them were the same humdrum colour, a kind of mucky dark grey with a dark red strip around the top. I used to walk quickly past them, ignoring their existence as if that could make them disappear but knowing that the time would come when I would have to slip them on over my socks.

Around a million people in Niger will need urgent food aid next year if the country's drought persists, the World Food Programme warned on Friday. "In Niger, the WFP is planning to scale up its food aid operations urgently, specifically for children and pregnant women, after the government declared that at least 750,000 people have been identified to be suffering from serious food insecurity," said Gaelle Sevenier, spokeswoman for the UN agency.

(..) Food production is expected to be lower than usual in parts of western Niger, Chad’s Sahelian zone, southern Mauritania, western Mali, eastern Burkina Faso, northern Senegal and Nigeria, according to a report by the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and a separate assessment by USAID’s food security monitor FEWS NET.

Niger is at the cusp of another food crisis as erratic rains and insect attacks on crops have caused crop failure in several parts of the West African nation, authorities have warned. (..) “We are all very concerned about the food security situation in Niger,” Denise Brown, head of the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) in Niger, told AlertNet.

Poor rains have brought crop failure to parts of Niger, but aid agencies say a closer watch and better reporting on conditions have led to improved distribution of relief supplies. (..) Denise Brown, the Niger country director for the U.N. World Food Program, says Niger's government and U.N. agencies are concerned about food security in areas west of the city of Agadez where there are poor harvests due to light rains and heavy infestations of pests. She says some families are still recovering from the last drought as they see another one coming.

Nigerien Prime Minister Brigi Rafini warned the West African country may face food and livestock shortages in the 2011-12 agricultural season unless rains arrive. (..) A drought from 2009 to 2010 left one in five of the nation’s children under five years of age malnourished, according to the World Food Programme.

Aid is finally reaching tens of thousands of families in southern Niger who have survived mainly on wild leaves and fruit for the past six months.(..) The UN World Food Programme (WFP) will start a country-wide feeding programme targeting all children under two in June. "That should cover any vulnerable children in Magaria District," added Traoré.