DAKAR (AlertNet) - The United Nations has pledged to provide the impoverished West African state of Niger with any additional funding needed to prevent critical food shortages, the world body has said in a statement.
Almost half of Niger's 15 million people will likely be short of food this year after erratic and late rainfall depressed crops and livestock fodder in most of its regions, a government report said in January.
"People are struggling on a daily basis against recurring droughts. This is not the fault of the authorities, but it would be difficult for them to respond effectively if the U.N. doesn't support them," the U.N. spokeswoman in Niger, Anne Boher, told AlertNet.
The humanitarian aid arm of the European Union, ECHO, estimates that $220 million is needed to avert a food crisis in Niger. The country's government is yet to announce its estimates and the United Nations is working with the authorities on the figures to finalise its response plan.
Some aid workers fear a repeat of the food crisis in 2005, when 4 million people in Niger suffered severe food shortages. At the time, the government resisted foreign help and denied there was a famine until media coverage attracted international attention. Aid agencies in the country were also poorly prepared for dealing with such a crisis.
However, the United Nations cautioned against the analogy.
"Two thousand ten is not 2005. The comparison is damaging. The situation is not the same at all," Boher said by telephone. "We are ready and we can handle the situation."
"Since the 2005 crisis, the government of Niger, with the U.N. and other organisations, started to improve the health and public services to respond to the food security and nutrition issues across the country," she said.
"Most organisations are much better prepared to respond to the population in need in terms of food, cash and treatment," she added.
Niger's government has said it has enough food to cover everyone's needs but added it would accept outside assistance so long as it was provided in a coordinated manner.
However, some campaigners in Niger say the government should go all out and seek international help for what they see as a dire crisis.
"It is not about saying that things are not too bad or very bad. What is important is to acknowledge the figures and work on how to tackle the situation," Khaled Ikiri, the president of the Niger Association for the Protection of Human Rights (ANDDH), told AlertNet.
"For the person who now lives on only one meal a day, or the person who could not plant because of poor rains and is already moving with his family, or the one who planted and halfway through, the rains stopped leaving nothing to harvest, saying there is no problem doesnÂ?t make much sense," Ikiri said.
Last week Japan pledged $5.91 million in aid to Niger, and the Islamic Development Bank also promised more than $7.3 million to help the Sahelian nation, which has a history of food crises, ahead of forecast food shortages.
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