Niger Emergency Humanitarian Action Plan: Food Crisis (2 April 2010)

Niger Emergency Humanitarian Action Plan: Food Crisis (2 April 2010) Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

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1. INTRODUCTION

Niger is now in the grip of a protracted food crisis, caused by poor or failed harvests, primarily due to erratic rainfall in 2009. In December 2009, a government-led National Rapid Household Survey indicated that 7.8 million people (58.2% of the population) are at risk of food insecurity, of which 2.7 million (20% of the population) have been classified as ’severely vulnerable’1 and 5.1 million as ’moderately vulnerable’. The country’s global acute malnutrition (GAM) rate is as high as 12.3% and in some regions exceeds the critical 15% threshold.2 The Nutrition Cluster estimates that 378,000 new cases of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and another 1.2 million new cases of moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) will be registered in Niger over the next 12 months, if urgent actions are not taken to strengthen the food security of vulnerable households. The national authorities of Niger have declared the country to be in a state of ’critical food insecurity’, requiring urgent and large-scale food and nutritional interventions.

This Emergency Humanitarian Action Plan (EHAP) has been produced to highlight the most recent and urgent humanitarian issues in Niger, and support the national authorities’ efforts in quickly mobilizing additional funds to provide timely assistance to the vulnerable populations threatened by food insecurity and malnutrition. It is aligned with the national authorities’ priorities defined in its 2010 Support Plan and has been developed with the participation of its technical services. In terms of strategy and projects, it is integrated into the West Africa regional Consolidated Appeal (CAP). All projects proposed herein – new and revised – are included in or added to the CAP’s overall requirements. In line with the national authorities’ priorities, the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) has prioritized food security and nutritional interventions, supported by selected actions in the health and water-sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sectors, and in logistics. The requirements for the Niger EHAP are US$190,762,464. With $57,845,526 of funding already received (including carry-over), unmet requirements are $132,916,938. Full_Report (pdf* format - 2,7 Mbytes) (*) Get Adobe Acrobat Viewer (free)