Woman with her bag of maize

22 July 2010: Emergency food aid is getting through to needy people, including malnourished children, in Niger. As part of the second round of food drops, Plan brought 2,500 tonnes of maize to help some of the worst affected families and began distributing on 19 July.

Along with a 1,000-tonne acquisition from the World Food Programme, Plan will have supported more than 200,000 people in Tillaberi and Dosso districts by the time distribution is complete at the end of the month. The food was brought in by trucks from neighbouring Benin.

Life-saving supplies

In the Tidirka village Plan has begun distributing 14 kilos of food per vulnerable person. Aissa Bale, 86 years old, collected for the 10 people for whom she’s responsible. Aissa was overjoyed she was receiving the maize. She said: "We’ve been going to bed with empty stomachs. Now I’m going to make couscous and corn porridge."

United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) visited one of Plan's distribution sites. WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran, said: "For young children in Niger, the food we are providing is literally a life-saver.

"We are massively scaling up special nutritional help for children under 2 years of age, whose brains and bodies face permanent damage from acute malnutrition," Ms. Sheeran added.

Communities still in need

But there are many families still struggling. According to the UN, approximately 7,000,000 people are suffering from severe or moderate food insecurity, almost 50% of the population. Some children aren’t going to school because they are too hungry.

Nefissa Hamadou, 31, who has 6 children, said: "Life is very hard, we’re suffering. We are going to have to sell our goats and sheep because we have no food left. We just eat one meal a day in the evening, corn porridge and a stew I make of leaves."

Plan has already distributed 1,000-tonne of cereal in Tillaberi, western Niger, helping some 73,000 people.

The crisis stems from sporadic and irregular rains during the 2009 agricultural season. Late planting in many areas and failure of seeds to germinate in others, combined with a long dry spell, caused major disruptions in crop growth.

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Find out more about Plan's work in Niger.