MALNUTRITION: Niger's cause of malnutrition is poverty

NIAMEY, Niger (AlertNet) - Poverty, population growth and a lack of adequate agricultural policies are major contributors to a chronic food crisis in Niger and more must be done to address the roots of the country's recurring food shortages, experts say.
The United Nations estimates that about half of the population of the West African nation is facing moderate to severe food shortages this year, but the problem is not new.
Niger, ranked bottom of the U.N. development index, has been facing food deficits for the past 10 to 20 years and a severe food crisis in 2005 left 4 million people suffering from food shortages.
"The failure of successive governments to set up efficient agricultural policies able to feed the majority of Nigeriens is the principal cause of these crises," said Boureima Alpha Gado, an expert in droughts and food shortages in the Sahel at Niamey's Abdou Moumouni University.
It is essential for Niger to look beyond the crisis at hand to come up with more permanent solutions, experts say.
During a recent visit to the country, U.N. emergency response coordinator John Holmes told the head of the military regime that seized power in February, Saliou Djibo, that it was vital to invest in agriculture, irrigation and water retention schemes.
"Even if we succeed to avoid the worst of this crisis, it would not be a solution to the problem as the root causes remain," Holmes told AlertNet during his visit.
EXTREME POVERTY
About 80 percent of Niger's population lives in rural areas, depends on subsistence agriculture and breeding livestock and faces high levels of poverty, with little access to food, water, healthcare and education, according to the U.N.
"Such poverty among people whose incomes don't permit them to afford their food needs in the case of sudden shocks - including droughts, locust attacks, floods - is the other most important cause of the food crises in the country," Alpha Gado told AlertNet in Niger.
http://www.alertnet.org/db/an_art/58388/2010/04/3-160602-1.htm