The ongoing food crisis in Niger has affected 3.6 million people. At least 2.5 million, including 800,000 children, urgently need food.
World Vision Responds
World Vision, in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP), is distributing food to hungry families, especially children under the age of five.
"I have experienced many famines in my life but this one is by far the worst," says 47-year-old Halilou Ed Hadj, the village chief in Kakaran Kashe, Niger. He says, "If it wasn't for World Vision and the cereal bank, the whole village would be empty right now. That is what keeps us in the village. Thank God for World Vision."
To date, World Vision has distributed 2,577 metric tonnes of cereal, niebe (beans), and oil to 138,526 people in the Maradi and Zinder regions of Niger. The cereal, beans, and oil provide a cushion of protection to the most vulnerable people in Niger.
Over the next few weeks, World Vision plans to:
- distribute a total of 4,328 metric tonnes of cereal, beans, and oil benefiting 163,000 people
- construct at least 25 additional cereal banks to ensure long-term food security
- distribute 130 metric tonnes of UNIMIX
- distribute 20,000 high energy biscuits to children to prevent them from slipping into malnutrition
- distribute 24,000 mosquito nets
- start other activities that will focus on food and nutrition and long term solutions
Food Crisis Causes
Droughts and locust swarms destroyed most of last year's harvest and almost 40 per cent of food for livestock. Already the second poorest country in the world, Niger has few resources to battle the food crisis. They have limited income opportunities, limited access to basic health care and clean water, a rapidly growing population, and a deteriorating environment.
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Updated 7:30 a.m., EST, September 15, 2005
