Niger Food Crisis Analysis

The Niger food crisis: a strategic approach to tackling human needs

The crisis in Niger in 2005 was characterised by slow decision-making and a lack of complementarity between humanitarian and development actors, as agencies debated whether short-term emergency interventions or long-term structural responses were most appropriate. This article describes the nature of the crisis, and argues that, if similar crises are to be prevented in the future, humanitarian and developmental agencies need to harmonise the way they work together to prevent, mitigate and reduce the risks faced by chronically vulnerable populations.

Profile of the crisis

The food crisis in Niger primarily affected people living in the country’s transitional zone.

Food production

In terms of information management, it is true that the food production shortage was detected quite early (by December 2004), but the way the shortage was interpreted caused confusion as to the appropriate response. Livestock prices were not analysed in relation to increases in cereal prices. This created a false impression, since the degradation of people’s purchasing capacity was based on the decapitalisation of livestock as well as inflated cereal prices. Thus, responses to price rises, such as subsidised cereal sales, were only tackling part of the

We need to approach the problem of chronic vulnerability as a social and economic problem. We must extend the humanitarian mandate to include supporting affected populations by

Conclusion

Just because the Niger crisis is no longer on our TV screens does not make the current situation any less precarious. Nutritional surveys continue to show severe infant malnutrition rates, especially in the transitional zone despite the general food distribution in August–October 2005.

The government and the international community should not to wait until we have spectacular indicators to act. In January and February 2005, we had indicators showing that something was going wrong, and we failed to respond. The situation is similar now, and we must not make the same mistake. Emergencies should not be seen as inevitable. Humanitarian and development actors can work together to address structural and immediate vulnerabilities, so as to ensure that communities do not suffer one crisis after