Charities are calling for $10 million in aid to prevent serious food shortages in West Africa developing into a widespread famine. Much of the Eastern Sadel has been affected and both Oxfam and Save the Children are warning that if nothing is done seven million people in Niger will be facing starvation ahead of the next harvest in September.
It is feared that as many as 400,000 children under the age of five are at risk of starvation in a country where 60 per cent of the population is already living in poverty. Droughts across the region have led to poor harvests; in Niger, harvest yields have fallen by 30 per cent. This fall in yield from crops has led to a dramatic increase in the price of food, meaning much of the population is unable to afford even basic foodstuffs.
In Niger, one of the world’s poorest countries, this has had catastrophic consequences; around half the population is without food, with some women resorting to digging up ant hills to collect seeds and grains.?Many people have abandoned their villages, choosing to walk as many as 600 miles to the capital Naimey –?or over the border to Nigeria – in the hope of finding food.
Niger is one of the world’s least developed countries, with one in six children dying before their sixth birthday and one in seven women dying during childbirth. Aid agencies fear the crisis could be as bad as the famine in Ethiopia in 1984 when one million people died. But there is still time to avert another human disaster. A spokesperson for Oxfam said: “We are witnessing an unfolding disaster which can be averted – if the world acts swiftly.”
