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Summary
- The crisis engulfed the drought-prone region of the Sahel, where four of the world’s poorest countries have been affected: Niger, Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso.
- Niger was the worst affected with 3.6 million of its 12 million population suffering severe hunger.
- The crisis had been developing since August 2004 when a massive locust invasion swept the area during the growing season and destroyed the harvest. This combined with severe drought left the population with little food.
Background
The Sahel has been affected by food security problems for several decades. The region first came to the world’s attention in the early 1970s when severe drought led to a very serious food security crisis and a major humanitarian response.
This is an area of the world characterized by chronic extreme poverty and very high levels of vulnerability.
This period of the year is always difficult in the Sahel. This is lean period or “soudure” when the harvest from the previous year has been exhausted and the current season’s production is not yet available. The length of this period depends on the quantity of the previous year’s production. Distribution of free or subsidised food in some areas of Mali and Burkina Faso has limited the impact of food shortages in these countries.
Niger
Niger is the poorest country in the world. Six in ten of Nigeriens live on less than US$1 a day. The country has the second highest under-five mortality rate in the world (262/1,000 live births). One in four children die before their fifth birthday. Only 48 per cent of the population has access to primary health care.
In March cereal prices in Niger were 46 per cent higher than at this time in 2003. Many people have moved out of rural areas in Niger to urban centres in search of food and employment.
This is said to be Niger’s worst food security crisis since 1984. Several years of particularly severe economic hardship in Niger have reduced people’s capacity to cope with shocks. The situation is particularly bad for pastoral/nomadic herding communities.
Only around 15 per cent of land in Niger is suitable for agriculture. Even in years of relative normality in Niger, around 40 per cent (one million) of children suffer from some degree of malnutrition.
Nutritional surveys in Niger indicate a severe acute malnutrition rate of around 2.4 per cent - 2.9 per cent amongst children under-five. The global malnutrition rate is around 20 per cent. In the most seriously affected areas severe acute malnutrition is as high as 13.4 per cent (UNICEF). At the height of the crisis, there was concern that one in ten children could die unless they got urgent help.
Mali
Compared to Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Mauritania were not as badly affected by the food crisis. Around 20 per cent of the Mali population is affected by the food shortage. (Population circa.11 million) Animal carcasses litter the hardest hit areas, including cattle, horses and donkeys.
Mauritania
An estimated 750,000 or 26 per cent of the population was affected. (Population of nearly three million)
Mauritania suffered three years of drought until 2004 when the rains came but with them came the Sahel region’s worst invasion of locusts in 20 years. The locusts infested every corner of Mauritania’s agricultural zone, munching their way through the cereal and other crops that are the lifeblood of the rural poor.
Burkina Faso
500,000 people left vulnerable out of a population of more than 13 million.
Red Cross response
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has closely monitored the situation since the locust invasions last year and has been providing advice and support to the national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies in the affected countries ever since.
The Federation launched an emergency relief operation in light of the worsening situation in the region. This is initially planned to last six months, but has been extended until April 2006.
The Federation launched an appeal for $14 million on July 22 2005 to help up to 45,000 families, some 220,000 people, in the region. The Red Cross provided immediate food relief such as cereal and rice stocks to the most vulnerable, including fortified food for severely undernourished children.
The first phase of the Federation’s plan from June to October 2005:
- Distribute a monthly food ration to 532,000 people in Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Mauritania
- Provide emergency health services with supplementary feeding for the most vulnerable children under five-years-old (24,500 children in Niger)
- Cash voucher distributions to 20,000 people to target severely affected communities in Niger and Mali
Phase two, October 20 to January 20:
- Livestock support to 5,000 pastoralists/herders in Niger and Mali
- Placement of cereal banks in 250 of the worst affected communities in Mali and Niger
- Sustainable health interventions to improve long-term health of most vulnerable
British Red Cross response
The British Red Cross launched an emergency appeal on 21 July, which raised a total of £2.8 million - £2 million of which within three weeks of its launch. The British Red Cross also received £4 million from the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal monies, with which it has been able to purchase over £3 million worth of food and provide support for the relief operation.
The British Red Cross supplied Unimix, a highly nutritious food supplement, which was distributed from Federation feeding centres for moderately malnourished children. An additional food ration was provided for the families of vulnerable children. More severely malnourished children were referred to other agencies specializing in therapeutic feeding.
A logistics team was sent to Niger on Sunday 24th July to assist the Niger Red Cross with their relief effort. This was the first flight chartered by a British aid agency to the region. Altogether two logistics teams were sent to the region, consisting of logistics experts, a systems expert and information delegate. The teams coordinated the arrival and onward distribution of Red Cross relief items such as food, seeds and medical equipment that were delivered to Niger.
The British Red Cross is pioneering an innovative new cash project in Niger, which is supporting 4,000 families. Eighty-four villages in the district of Tanut, in northeast Niger, are the focus of the project, which is providing £120 per household.
Many of these households had been forced to sell not only their remaining livestock, but also other items such as clothes and cooking utensils in order to buy food. The outcome of this programme has been extremely positive with families able to bridge the gap until the harvest came in. Many families have purchased food, repaid debts and bought livestock. But communities have also pooled some of the money to establish communal grain stores and repair wells.
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