Emergency Appeal Niger: Food Insecurity
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Emergency appeal Niger: Food insecurity Emergency appeal n° MDRNE010 30 January 2012 This Emergency Appeal seeks CHF 3,756,836 in cash, kind, or services to support the Red Cross Society of Niger (RCSN) to assist 350’000 beneficiaries for 9 months, and will be completed by the end of October, 2012. A Final Report will be made available by January 2013 (three months after the end of the operation). CHF 126,768 was allocated from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support this operation. Unearmarked funds to replenish DREF are encouraged. This Emergency Appeal aims to mitigate food shortages resulting from the bad harvests of 2011. This current food shortage is affecting about 3 million people in Niger and millions more over the Sahel region, and is being exacerbated by the rise in prices in the region. According to current estimates from the Niger Ministry of Agriculture and the Director of Statistics, the 2011/12 agro-pastoral season is marked by a deficit of 519,639 tons of cereals (14 percent of the cereal needs of the population) and 10,222,308 tons of forage. As a result, it is anticipated that the lean season will start early—possibly as early as January—instead of March as is customary, and that the affected population will not have the reserves or coping strategies to deal with this extended lean season. Poor and sporadic rainfall resulted in bad harvest. AAccording to the Niger Government, following the results of the Photo: Nathalie Bonvin/IFRC survey Household vulnerability to food insecurity in rural and urban area conducted in November 2011, more than 5,458,000 people (34.9 percent of the population) were in a situation of food insecurity, including 1,324,435 people (8.5 percent) who were severely food insecure. The survey found 26.4 percent of the population (over 4 million) were moderately food and nutrition insecure, while 3,622,956 persons (23.1 percent) are classified as "at risk", that means, likely to slide into food insecurity before the next harvest. A needs assessment conducted by the RCSN and the participating National Societies (PNS) in-country, has confirmed the Government findings, enabling the National Society to define the regions and target populations it will focus on, and its plan of action and proposed activities. The National Society will focus on the six most affected regions of Diffa, Dosso, Maradi, Tahoua, Tillabery and Zinder, where around three million people across 228 areas are assessed as being vulnerable. The plan of action is based on extensive experience in food security programmes and will build on the lessons learned from earlier food security operations. This Emergency Appeal is being issued in response to a request from the RCSN to support them to respond to the deteriorating situation and to provide food security and nutrition assistance for about 50,000 households (350,000 beneficiaries). This assistance will include various activities such as cash for work, cash transfer, 2 environmental protection actions, food distribution, seeds and tools distribution, water and sanitation, and support to nutrition centres. This operation is expected to be implemented over a period of 9 months, and will therefore be completed by October, 2012, before the beginning of the harvest time. A Final Report will be made available three months after the end of the operation (by January, 2013). <click here to view the attached Emergency Appeal Budget; or here to view contact details> The situation The food security situation in Niger is complex, and like the rest of the Sahel region, there are a number of issues which combine to cause the increased vulnerability of an already poor and vulnerable population at this critical time. 1 The nutritional status of children under five years remains a concern in Niger even during “normal” years, with global acute malnutrition (GAM) levels ranging from 10 to 12 percent over past years since 2005. According to the results of an earlier assessment of nutrition for children between 6-59 months conducted in May and June 2011, all regions recorded a rate of between 10 and 14 percent with the exception of the urban centre of Agadez and there were chronic malnutrition rates recorded across the country of between 40 and 50 percent, again with the exception of urban centres such as Tillabery, Niamey and Agadez. The rates of acute and chronic malnutrition among children under five in Niger are structurally high, even in areas with previously good crop production, due to inadequate feeding practices of adults and children, quality of childcare, inadequate access to health care, poor hygiene practices, and social constraints such as the socio-economic status of women. With the situation worsening, during the last week of 2011, 3,245 cases of severely malnourished children were referred to Intensive Nutritional Recovery Centres (CRENIs) and 6,278 moderately malnourished children were also detected and referred to other centres. For 2011, admissions of severe acute malnutrition at the last count were 299,358, while those for moderate acute malnutrition were 411,031, according to UNICEF. The decline in nutrition status is due to reduced agricultural production.The combination of repeated dry weather and the onslaught of pests (grasshoppers, caterpillars etc), has meant that several villages in the most affected regions of Niger have experienced significant declines in cereal production. Reduced production has had a knock-on effect on market prices, and according to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), there has been an increase in the retail price of millet in Niamey between October and November 2011 of over 15 percent. Prices of other essential foodstuffs have also increased considerably. The situation further worsened in December and January, with vulnerable households using up their reserve stocks two months earlier than usual. The poorest households therefore had to start buying food items from the markets in December/January instead of February/March, which will extend the normal lean season by two to three months and will force the poorest households to find means to purchase food for over six months. To cope with this, the poorest people in the affected areas have already started destocking animals (Diffa region) in order to buy cereals. Children are being taken out of school to find work to support their families (Southern department of Tessaoua, Maradi region) and people are leaving villages to find temporary work in the cities or migrating further afield. The socio-political crises in Libya, Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria is also an additional threat. The return of over 250,000 Nigeriens who were living and working in these host countries has led to a loss of income for their families. The unexpected return in critical conditions increases the vulnerability of host households and of the entire community. In addition to this, inter-religious conflicts, tribal conflicts and strikes due to oil prices in neighbouring Nigeria have also contributed to the worsening food security situation, as they have affected food imports from Nigeria and limited the movement of local traders. Agencies are currently monitoring the population 1 http://www.fews.net/docs/Publications/NE_FSOU_2011_11_final_en.pdf 3 movement from Nigeria to Niger to see how that may impact the situation, as this may be yet another factor that will impact on the quantity of cereals on Niger’s markets and the increasing food prices. The security situation in Niger remains volatile, particularly in the border regions. Rebel groups have conducted sporadic attacks on security forces and mining operations, mainly in the northern Agadez region, but also in central Tahoua and Maradi regions and in Zinder in the south east. There have also been extremist threats towards international personnel, who are at risk of kidnap by militants groups, as seen with the kidnapping of two French nationals last year. The government has recently expressed a concern regarding the passage of weapons across its borders. Demonstrations over socio-economic grievances are also common in the main cities and they occasionally descend into violence. Finally, the severe flooding, which hit the vulnerable regions of Tillabery, Tahoua, Dosso and Maradi in August 2011, also contributed to increased vulnerability of the population and worsened their food insecurity situation. 5,423 households were badly affected. All of these complex issues have combined to raise the vulnerability of the population in the six most affected regions of Diffa, Dosso, Maradi, Tahoua, Tillabery and Zinder. These are the main regions with serious cereal and forage deficits and with the highest risk of food insecurity in the coming months. The RCSN will target the most vulnerable households across 228 areas (compared to 164 identified at the same time last year), containing 6,981 villages and about 3 million people. The National Society will focus on: • Diffa (departments of Diffa and N’Guigmi); • Dosso (departments of Doutchi, Loga) • Maradi (departments of Aguié, Guidan Roumdji, Madrounfa and Mayahi); • Tahoua (departments of Bouza, Illéla, Konni and Madaoua); • Tillabéry (departments of Fillingué, Ouallam, Téra, Kollo and Tillabéry); • Zinder (departments of Gouré, Matamèye and Tanout). Coordination and partnerships The Government of Niger, working though its crisis committee led by the Prime Minister and coordinated by OCHA, is monitoring the developing situation and having regular meetings, in which the RCSN and Red Cross Movement partners have participated, alongside UN agencies (WFP, UNICEF, WHO, UNFPA, FAO) and national and international NGOs. The Red Cross has cooperated with both WFP and FAO around food provision and seeds and tools, and there will be opportunities for further partnership at field level during the operation. The Government has been coordinating and planning based on earlier experience and assessments (assessment of the Ministry of Agriculture from late 2010).