Food emergency in Niger... and other West African states too

The food emergency in Niger is finally starting to get a little international attention, though only after it's turned into a full-fledged famine with so as to allow images of skeletal children to be beamed back into western living rooms.

West Africaphiles international aid groups and UN agencies have issued warnings and appeals since as early as ten months ago. Fears of a famine were expressed last August following a devastating locust invasion of West Africa. But food and monetary appeals have received little response until the last few weeks.

According to the BBC, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland said that the international community has put more money into the Niger relief effort over the past 10 days than it had during the previous 10 months.

This is hardly surprising. The international community has repeatedly proven itself fairly generous in responding to crises, but obstitate in refusing to help PREVENT those crises in the first place. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as they say. International development is no different.

An excellent example is the locust invasion itself. Back in 2003, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization warned that North and West Africa were at risk from a locust invasion. The FAO called for a battle against desert locusts and disrupt their breeding grounds. They asked for $9 million for this preventitive effort. They didn't get it.

So the warnings were proven correct. In July 2004, locusts did invade West Africa where they ravaged staple crops and grazing land. Now, the UN is asking for $100 million just to fight the locusts... and that's not counting the money it's asking for to combat the resulting food emergency.

While Niger is finally getting a little ink, the UN warned that its West African neighbors also face food shortages. Notably Mali, Burkina Faso and Mauritania -- three countries also badly hit by drought and locusts.


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