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NIGER: Thousands of villages hit by severe food shortages

IRIN

January 24, 2012

Nearly half Niger’s population does not have enough to eat and the government says it is facing a grain shortfall of 692,501 tons, following another severe drought across the Sahel.

The government says it needs 3.8 million tons of cereals to feed six million people spread across 6,981 villages, equating to 49.4 percent of the affected zones.

In a survey conducted in November 2011, the government’s Early Warning Systemprojected the 2011-2012 “winter” gross cereal production for millet, sorghum, rice, wheat and fonio (one of West Africa’s most ancient cereals) at 3.8 million tons - 27 percent down on 2010-2011. Grain production last season was about 3.2 million tons.

The Early Warning System, which monitors and forecasts food security needs, has identified three major areas as reporting deficits: Tillabéry in the west; Agadez in the north; and Diffa in the east; with respective shortfalls of 164,146 tons, 123,576 tons, and 68,115 tons.

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