A major food crisis in West Africa's Sahel region is currently threatening the lives of some 10 million people, including hundreds of thousands of children, and aid workers need international support to respond before it is too late. Niger, the world's poorest country, has 7.1 million people affected; in neighboring Chad, 2 million people need food aid and livelihoods support; thousands of others in parts of Mali, Burkina Faso and a portion of northern Nigeria are struggling to survive. The sight of dead cattle–the equivalent of lost capital–is becoming common. The nutrition situation in Niger has deteriorated with over 114,000 children treated during the first semester in feeding centers for malnutrition. Survival strategies include the poorest going for days without a meal. United Nations agencies – the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World food Program (WFP), and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) – have all warned of dire conditions. Donors have contributed tens of millions of dollars, allowing agencies to undertake therapeutic feeding for children, to provide food aid as well as veterinary products and seeds distribution, and to institute food-for-work and cash transfer programs, with the sole aim of saving lives and livelihoods. However more money is needed to roll-out a more effective response. In Niger, at least US$229 million is still needed to finance an emergency response plan; the five agencies alone need close to $50 million for Chad. Several more million would be needed if the situation in Mali, Burkina Faso and northern Nigeria were to further deteriorate. The money will finance life-saving activities, including the logistical cost of transporting food to remote areas of Niger and Chad, distributing food aid and administering interventions to almost 860,000 children under age five threatened by severe malnutrition. It will also support more than nine million people who rely on agriculture and livestock as their main livelihoods and who now have no access to farming and herding inputs. At this critical time, the humanitarian community is asking governments, the private sector, and individual citizens to contribute. Every cent counts. Timely donor contributions will allow relief workers to do what they do best: save lives and preserve livelihoods. The current emergency has again raised the issue of sustainable solutions to the region's repeated bouts with food crises. Like in 2005, 1984, and in the 1970s, this crisis is not just about food–it is also about endemic poverty and it deserves to be placed on the agenda of the most influential institutions. Amidst the attention on Haiti and other humanitarian crises, the world must remain engaged in the Sahel, where access to food and other basic needs is a daily challenge. The combination of generalized poverty and human vulnerability leads to a deterioration of peace and security in an already insecure region and further delays development. The boat-loads of young men and women who are risking their lives to enter Europe illegally, or to join the ranks of trans-national criminal groups or partake in drug trafficking, all have their roots in the quest to satisfy the basic needs for food, water, education and health. For years now, it has been possible to avoid major food crises due to improved farming techniques and technologies, therapeutic food, support to the poorest households, and strengthened national capacities. But staving off tragedy, like the one galloping across the Sahel, is dependent on broadened access, predictable humanitarian response and adequate funding. It is the latter that is most lacking. ** This op-ed was written by the humanitarian agencies FAO, WFP, OCHA, UNICEF and IFRC based in West Africa. BM
