Niger: BF compounds food crisis

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Bird flu threat compounds impending food crisis in Niger
International community must take urgent action to prevent repeat emergency

3/27/2006 11:46:33 AM

Bird flu threat compounds impending food crisis in Niger
International community must take urgent action to prevent repeat emergency

22 March 2006 - Fear of bird flu outbreaks has led to a dramatic 70 percent fall in poultry prices in Niger, devastating some of the poorest households in the world�s poorest country.

This loss of income from poultry is compounding what is already a severe food situation for at least one million people in Niger, who are still recovering from last year�s crisis. 

�The bird flu outbreak couldn�t have come at a worse time,� said Brian Cavanagh, CARE International�s country director in Niger. 

�Last year�s food crisis left hundreds of thousands of people with nothing but the debts that they accumulated in order to survive. Now they are facing another hungry season and many families are already running out of food, with months still until the next harvest in October,� Cavanagh said, adding �this loss of income from poultry is catastrophic.� 

In rural areas of Niger, poultry such as chickens and ducks are extremely important assets for people, particularly poor women, who rear and sell them in order to afford their basic needs such as food, healthcare and other family needs. 

The latest WFP report states that 3.2 million Nigerois, nearly a third of the rural population, will remain severely or moderately food insecure in 2006 and levels of malnutrition of 15.3 percent are well over the World Health Organisation defined emergency level of 10 percent.

The government of Niger estimates US $92 million is needed for food security activities this year. The World Food Programme�s food stocks are exhausted and it still needs $31.7 million of funding for projects running from April 2006 to September 2007. 
http://care.ca/press/press_e.asp?pressID=208

Niger: BF compounds food crisis

Bird flu threat compounds impending food crisis in NigerInternational community must take urgent action to prevent repeat emergency

Bird flu threat compounds impending food crisis in Niger
International community must take urgent action to prevent repeat emergency