More than half of Niger villages hit by food and nutrition crisis
Niger is currently facing considerable agricultural deficit that is threatening the food security of the inhabitants of more than half the 7,000 villages in the country
NIAMEY [ACTED News] – The Tillabery region, where ACTED has been working since June 2010, is one of the hardest hit by this year’s drought. The acute malnutrition rate is over 13% of the populations according to an October 2011 nutritional survey preliminary results. United Nations representatives, State services and NGOs agree on the urgency of the situation. The food and pastoral status is highly preoccupying, “worse than in 2009 for the whole region, apart from the Kollo and Say departments,” according to a joint press release. Some localities have even exceeded the 15% emergency threshold set by the World Health Organization, while mother and child malnutrition rates continue to rise.
The 2011 agropastoral campaign in Niger has ended with a deficit of over 520,000 metric tons (MT) of cereal and over 10 million MT of livestock fodder, according to authorities’ latest evaluations. Rural populations’ survival capacities have greatly suffered from the 2009 and 2010 food and nutrition crisis, therefore limiting many families’ capacity for resilience. Other Sahel Band countries, neighboring Niger, are also confronted with decreasing agricultural production, which could impact the country’s cereal supply and increase the region’s food prices. The consequences of the Libyan crisis, which caused 200,000 Nigerien migrant workers to return, has contributed to many host communities’ worsening vulnerability throughout the entire country.
In the light of this food stress situation, ACTED’s response is being coordinated with partners on the ground, particularly in the Tillabery region, north of Niamey, where ACTED teams are currently deploying food security interventions, improving nutritional coverage and supporting vulnerable households’ recovery.