6 July 2010 - Over 10 million people are facing hunger in the Sahel region, which shows concerning rates of malnutrition - especially amongst children.
Several Sahel countries are affected by severe food insecurity: 7.1 million people in Niger, 2 million people in Chad, 258,000 people in Mali, 370,000 people in Mauritania, as well as communities living in northern Nigeria, near the border with Niger. These populations urgently need humanitarian assistance.
In Niger in particular, according to a new national survey carried out in April 2010, 7.1 million of people (about half of the population) are at risk of food insecurity: 3.3 million people (22.2% of the population) are affected by extreme food insecurity and 3.8 million people (25.5% of the population) are moderately food insecure.
The present food crisis is a consequence of irregular rainfalls and floods in some areas, as well as pest infestations in countries like Chad. This has caused poor harvest in 2009 and therefore a longer hunger gap in 2010 than usual, starting in March this year instead of June. For agro-pastoralists, this means many vulnerable families have already run out of food while the next harvest is not scheduled before October.
Due to the decrease in agriculture and pastoral production, food prices have started to rise: cereal prices have increased by 20% in all regions, compared to the average from 1991-2009.
The poorest families have no choice but to sell their livestocks, reducing their sources of future income; they are limiting the number of meals they eat every day while resorting to eating ‘survival food’ like wild food, or leaving their houses in search for food, or other sources of income.
To respond to the crisis, CARE has started to implement emergency activities, which include:
Cash transfers to help poor families meet their food requirements throughout the lean season and to purchase seeds for the planting season
Cash-for-work activities, which will include planting acacia trees to fight desertification, and soil recuperation activities to regenerate fertility of soil.
Emergency food distributions in schools, to ensure children stay in school during the crisis, and distributions to vulnerable families.
Supporting pastoralists by improving water access points, rehabilitating and protecting pasture land, and ensuring access to animal feed to prevent livestock from dying from starvation.
About CARE: CARE Niger was established in 1974 to respond to the famine affecting the country, and has worked on several projects that are relevant for food security since then, notably to strengthen good governance and sustainable livelihoods.
In recent years, CARE Niger has been focusing on strengthening governmental health and sanitation services and nutrition programmes, for example via the training of community health-workers and awareness-raising; implementing savings and loan associations as well as programmes to improve agricultural techniques; promoting good governance in the local management of water resources and livestock; and supporting community-based mechanisms to plan for crises and mitigate their impact.
CARE is planning on extending its work on disaster management and prevention, to help create sustainable livelihoods for 150,000 households in extreme poverty.
