This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

Niger vegetation maps. Above, July 2004; below, July 2005. Green is a vegetation surplus, brown a deficit. NASA

The 2005 Niger food crisis is a severe but localized food security crisis in the regions of northern Maradi, Tahoua, Tillabéri, and Zinder of Niger. It was caused by an early end to the 2004 rains, desert locust damage to some pasture lands, high food prices, and chronic poverty. In the affected area, 2.4 million of 3.6 million people are considered highly vulnerable to food insecurity. An international assessment stated that, of these, over 800,000 face extreme food insecurity and another 800,000 in moderately insecure food situations need aid. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Ongoing events • Abramoff-Reed gambling scandal • Atlantic hurricane season • Dengue outbreak in Singapore • FIDE World Chess Championship 2005 • Fuel prices • Gomery Comm. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (540x734, 66 KB)Famine in Niger - July 2005 image description here NASA images created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained courtesy of USDA FAS and processed by Jennifer Small and Assaf Anyamba, NASA GIMMS Group at Goddard Space Flight... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (540x734, 66 KB)Famine in Niger - July 2005 image description here NASA images created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained courtesy of USDA FAS and processed by Jennifer Small and Assaf Anyamba, NASA GIMMS Group at Goddard Space Flight... Food security is a term used in development and humanitarian aid. ... This article should be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. ... Tahoua is an administrative department in Niger, the capital of the department is Tahoua. ... Tillabéri is a town in north west Niger on the River Niger. ... Zinder is the second largest city in Niger, lying north of Kano in Nigeria. ... Binomial name Schistocerca gregaria Plagues of the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) have threatened agricultural production in Africa, the Middle East and Asia for centuries. ...

Background

The crisis had long been predicted after swarms of locusts consumed nearly all crops in parts of Niger during the 2004 agricultural season. In other areas, insufficient rainfall resulted in exceptionally poor harvests and dry pastures affecting both farmers and livestock breeders. An assessment carried out by the government of Niger, the United Nations and international Non Governmental Organizations reached a general consensus that the crisis, while locally severe, had not reached the level of famine according to famine scales. The 2004 Locust Swarm is the largest infestation of desert locust that has happened in West and North Africa in more than 15 years. ... 2004(MMIV) is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A drought is an extended period where water availability falls below the statistical requirements for a region. ... The United Nations, or UN, is an international organization established in 1945. ... A famine is a phenomenon in which a large percentage of the population of a region or country are undernourished that death by starvation becomes increasingly common. ... Famine scales are the ways in which degrees of food security are measured, from situations in which an entire population has adequate food to full-scale famine. ...

Crisis

According to current estimates, the Sahel region as a whole registered a grain surplus of 85,000 tons. However, Niger and Chad suffered grain deficits of around 224,000 and 217,000 tons, respectively. An increase in food prices is fuelling the food crisis, especially in Niger, where millions of people are facing risk of food shortages and outright starvation. The Sahel (from Arabic ساحل, sahil, shore or border) is the boundary zone in Africa between the Sahara to the north and the more fertile region to the south, known as the Sudan (not to be confused with the country of the same name). ... Starvation is a severe reduction in vitamin, nutrient, and energy intake, and is the most extreme form of malnutrition. ...

In the most affected areas of Niger, access to food staples is becoming increasingly difficult and severe child malnutrition is reported to be on the rise. The scarcity of water and fodder is adversely affecting the health of the cattles, camels, sheep and goats that comprise virtually the only source of food and income for nomadic communities. Competition for limited resources has also resulted in some local conflicts. Malnutrition is a general term for the medical condition in a person or animal caused by an unbalanced diet—either too little or too much food, or a diet missing one or more important nutrients. ... Water (from the Old English word wæter; c. ... In agriculture, fodder or animal feed is any foodstuff that is used specifically to feed livestock, such as cattle, sheep, chickens and pigs. ... Binomial name Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758 Cattle (called simply cows in vernacular usage) are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. ... Species Camelus bactrianus Camelus dromedarius A camel is either of the two species of large even-toed ungulate in the genus Camelus, the Dromedary (Single hump) and the Bactrian Camel (Double hump). ... Binomial name Ovis aries Linnaeus, 1758 A sheep is any of several woolly ruminant quadrupeds, but most commonly the Domestic Sheep (Ovis aries), which probably descends from the wild moufflon of south-central and south-west Asia. ... Species See Species and subspecies A goat is an mammal in the genus Capra, which consists of nine species: the Ibex, the West Caucasian Tur, the East Caucasian Tur, the Markhor, and the Wild Goat. ... Communities of nomadic people move from place to place, rather than settling down in one location. ...

Acute malnutrition rates have risen to 13.4 per cent in the southern Niger Maradi and Zinder departments, with 2.5 per cent of this group identified as severely malnourished children under age five, says UNICEF quoting recent nutrition surveys by the United Nations and several non-governmental organizations. This article should be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. ... Zinder is the second largest city in Niger, lying north of Kano in Nigeria. ... Niger is divided into 7 departments (departements; singular - departement) (each departments capital is the same as its name): Agadez Diffa Dosso Maradi Tahoua Tillaberi Zinder Additionally, the national capital, Niamey, comprises a capital district. ... UNICEF logo The United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was established by the United Nations General Assembly on December 11, 1946. ... The United Nations, or UN, is an international organization established in 1945. ... A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an organization that is not part of a government and was not founded by states. ...

The food shortage impacts some 3.3 million people —including 800,000 children under age five— in some 3,815 villages. Officials estimate cereal deficits at 223,448 tons and livestock feed deficits at 4,642,219 tons. A famine is a phenomenon in which a large percentage of the population of a region or country are undernourished that death by starvation becomes increasingly common. ...

Although rains began early this year and have fallen regularly, initially inspiring hope for a better agricultural season, relief will not come before the harvest in October. Villagers are just now entering into the critical period known as the lean season — the months when food stocks are at their lowest. It is also the moment when farm workers need more caloric energy in order to cultivate their fields, since most of the agrarian labour in Niger is performed manually. October is the tenth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ...

Response

In late August 2005, the profile of the crisis was raised after UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan visited President Tandja Mamadou in Zinder. The visit was seen as an attempt to draw attention to the crisis, and also address accusations that the UN had responded slowly. Donors have given less than half of the $81 million appealed for by the UN. The United Nations Secretary-General is the head of the Secretariat, one of the principal divisions of the United Nations. ... Kofi Atta Annan (born April 8, 1938) is a Ghanaian diplomat and the seventh and current Secretary-General of the United Nations. ... List of Heads of State of Niger (Dates in italics indicate de facto continuation of office) Affiliations See also Niger Heads of Government of Niger Lists of Incumbents Categories: Lists of office-holders | Niger ... Tandja Mamadou (born 1938) is a Niger politician and current President. ...