DAKAR (AlertNet) - Giving out cash rather than food is a quicker way to help the growing number of hungry in Niger as it will avoid delays related to distributing food, aid groups say.
Some 7.1 million people, or almost half of the population, are forecast to be short of food this year after erratic rainfall in 2009 ruined crops in many parts of the country. Of those, 3.3 million will face severe shortages.
Food, much of it imported from neighbouring countries, is available to buy in village markets. But the problem is many in the agriculture-driven economy can't afford it as the drought has hit their sources of income - farming and livestock.
"If we don't increase response within three weeks it will be too late, and the most rapid response we could provide now is to increase people's purchasing power by giving cash," Helene Berton, an expert at Save the Children UK, told AlertNet in Dakar. "It is time for action now."
The government and some non-governmental organisations have already started giving cash to some vulnerable people in the worst-affected areas. Aid group Concern Worldwide has been giving 9,000 registered families, or about 63,000 people, enough cash to cover two-thirds of their monthly food needs.
Handing out cash rather than food means the aid is tailored to each person's needs, takes away the costs of delivering food and allows beneficiaries to choose what food to buy.
"Cash is not the knight in shining armour that will resolve all problems but it does provide communities with more choice and more dignity than queuing up to receive a sack of food," said Niall Tierney, Niger director for Concern Worldwide, said by telephone from Niamey.
But cash alone is not enough, experts warn, because in some parts of Niger the harvest was completely lost and there is no imported food either.
Moreover, if traders know there is more money around, they may raise food prices, which means the cash distributed will not be enough to meet people's needs, Save the Children's Berton said.
"Both responses (cash and food distribution) are complementary and we need to be sure that we do everything we can to save lives, and especially the lives of children who are vulnerable to malnutrition," she added.
The rate of child malnutrition has risen beyond the emergency level, with a key measure, Global Acute Malnutrition, reaching 17 percent for children under five in May from 12 percent in December, U.N. agencies have said.
More than 1,000 malnourished children have been registering daily in therapeutic centres since mid-May, with a clear increase in admissions in the last month, they added.
In response to the worsening situation, the World Food Programme said this week it aims to help an additional 2 million people, on top of the 2.3 million they are already assisting, and will also focus on boosting nutrition for children under two. This will require an extra $100 million in funding, the U.N. agency said.
Likewise, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies this week more than tripled its appeal for funds to help Niger's hungry to $3.3 million from $1 million in March. It will use the funds to distribute both food and cash, as well as to provide nutritional support, it said.
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