SOME IMPROVEMENT IN OVERALL FOOD SECURITY IN NIGER, BUT RESULTS OF SURVEY IN RURAL AREAS CONTINUING CAUSE FOR CONCERN

SOME IMPROVEMENT IN OVERALL FOOD SECURITY IN NIGER , BUT RESULTS

OF SURVEY IN RURAL AREAS CONTINUING CAUSE FOR CONCERN

Government, UN Representatives to Review Situation at Dakar Meeting Next Week

NEW YORK, 10 November (OCHA) -- Favourable rains have lent hope that harvests of the Niger’s main crops will be good in the 2005/06 season, reducing the possibility of recurrent severe food insecurity.

There are several indications that food security is improving nationally.  Cereal prices have dropped since their peak this summer, and the average price of livestock is now higher than at the same time last year.  Sales of livestock have also decreased due to lower supply and demand.  However, while cereal prices have come down, they remain higher than at the same time last year and higher than the five-year average.

While the general agricultural outlook is also positive, many households continue to grapple with the effects of food insecurity, including indebtedness, the sale of household assets to pay debts, and the loss of livestock (which traditionally constitutes many families’ sole safety net).  The results of a recent agro-pastoral assessment indicate that current agricultural production may be insufficient to meet household food needs beyond the next six months.  The study was carried out by the World Food Programme (WFP); the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in Sahelian Africa; the global information and early warning system of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); and the famine early warning system of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Additionally, the results of a recent WFP nutritional survey show continued heightened food insecurity in rural areas.  Thirteen per cent of households continue to experience severe food insecurity and 22 per cent moderate food insecurity.  Only 45 per cent of households in the Niger’s seven rural regions are food secure.

The nutritional situation in the country also remains of concern.  By the end of October, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and its partners had admitted nearly 200,000 children for treatment in 700 nutritional recovery centres:  60,192 children suffering from severe malnutrition and 138,696 from moderate malnutrition.

Other assistance provided to date includes the 44,000 metric tonnes of food distributed by the WFP and partners through two rounds of free general distributions.  Added to the 22,000 metric tonnes distributed by the Government and partners during the first round of general distributions, some 66,000 metric tonnes of food assistance has reached 3.5 million people in the Niger’s affected regions.  Although general food distributions have now come to an end, the WFP continues to support nutritional recovery centres by providing supplementary food for pregnant and lactating women, children under five, and a protection ration for their families, as well as an additional small family ration for those in need.  These ongoing programmes are intended to reach more than 2 million people by the end of March.

Recognizing the need for continued vigilance on the part of the Government and the international community in the Niger and the other countries of the Sahel region, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will co-host a regional meeting on lessons learned and the way forward.

Participants at the meeting, to be held in Dakar, Senegal, from 15 to 16 November, will include Government and United Nations representatives from the countries of the region, traditional and non-traditional donors, and representatives of other international and non-governmental organizations.  The meeting aims to minimize future food security crises through promotion of regional sustainable poverty reduction.

For further information, please call:  Stephanie Bunker, OCHA- New York, tel.:  +1 917 367 5126, mobile:  +1 917 892 1679; Kristen Knutson, OCHA- New York, tel.:  +1 917 367 9262; or Elizabeth Byrs, OCHA-Geneva, tel.:  +41 22 917 2653, mobile:  +41 79 473 4570.

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For information media • not an official record