CERF has allocated $6 million to address food insecurity in Niger

29 January 2010: Three million dollars has been allocated to the World Food Programme (WFP) to improve nutritional status and reinforce livelihoods of 125,000 vulnerable populations. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has been allocated $2 million for emergency assistance to the rehabilitation of sustainable livelihoods of 280,000 vulnerable pastoralist people. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has been allocated $1 million for emergency nutrition for the survival of 16,500 children in the country.

Four years after the 2005 food crisis, Niger seems to be facing another difficult year in terms of food insecurity and malnutrition. Throughout 2008 and most of 2009, domestic food prices remained high and irregular rains did not allow cereal crops to develop properly. As a result, the harvest for cereals (millet, sorghum, rice) declined by 27 percent as compared to last year, leaving the country in a fragile equilibrium between production and internal demand.