Food crisis threatens millions

2010-01-29 09:05

Dakar - Millions in Niger and across West Africa face food shortages after erratic rains hit farming in countries in the Sahel region south of the Sahara desert, the European Commission's aid group said Thursday.

"We are already into what looks like a period of extreme vulnerability and extreme difficulty for the most disadvantaged of the population," said Brian O'Neill, regional sector head of European Commission Humanitarian Aid (ECHO).

The crisis is centred in Niger, where there will be a deficit of one million tons of cereal, with 2.7 million people likely to experience a severe food crisis, he added. Another five million are at "moderate risk" in Niger.

"The erratic rains in the 2009/2010 agricultural season have resulted in an enormous deficit in food production in these countries," he said of nations such as Niger, Chad, northern Burkina Faso and northern Nigeria.

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