On a visit to the West African country, Mr Holmes said aid agencies had identified - and were dealing with - the problem early enough to make a difference.
"We have sounded the alarm much earlier," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme
"And we are tackling it much earlier so I hope that we can avoid the worst, and avoid the kind of scenes we've seen before in Niger or in Ethiopia in the 1980s."
The UN emergency relief co-ordinator was visiting the Zinder area of southern Niger, where he said rates of malnutrition in children had increased because of the lack of food.
People in Zinder told the BBC about how the food shortages were affecting their lives.
"I don't have any food because this year has been very hard," said Nana Mariama.
"I seldom have one meal a day: my breakfast. I have a daughter who attends school; she can't eat every day. My husband has gone to Nigeria to fetch food."
Another man said he had lost more than 80 cattle.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8648215.stm
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