GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. humanitarian agencies sounded the alarm on Tuesday about a growing food crisis in the West African state of Niger, one of the world's poorest countries.
Poor rainfall since last year has devastated crop production and livestock herds, said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
OCHA is seeking $190 million from international donors for its emergency humanitarian action plan for Niger, an important uranium exporter in a region that western states fear could become a safe haven for al Qaeda.
So far less than a third of that money has been raised, but aid agencies need to start work in earnest in June or July to stave off hunger problems, Byrs said.
While it was too early to speak of famine, she told a briefing: "If we don't get this financing we could have an extremely serious humanitarian crisis in the country".
The top U.N. aid official, John Holmes, arrived in Niger on Sunday to inspect the crisis, which risks a repeat of a severe hunger problem in 2005.
A survey in December 2009 by the military rulers, who talked openly of the danger of famine, estimated that 58 percent of the population or 7.8 million people were food-insecure, OCHA said.
Acute malnutrition is increasing and more than 1.5 million children risk becoming malnourished over the next 12 months if urgent action is not taken, it said.
It said the crisis was already prompting mass migration and school dropouts, as people fled the countryside for urban areas or neighbouring countries.
The World Food Programme is doubling the number of people who receive its food aid under its relief programme to 2.3 million. It said it normally needs 3-4 months to deliver food to Niger, and immediate contributions would enable it to procure food in the region, such as in Nigeria.
The military rulers have taken tentative steps towards restoring civilian rule and meeting a donor-imposed deadline of polls by the end of the year, but the food crisis risks derailing the process.
In the United Nations' 2009 human development index, Niger ranks last out of 182 countries covered.
Reuters Africa
