37th CFS Plenary Session, 17-22 October 2011, Rome
The CFS is the United Nations' forum for reviewing policies concerning world food. It is the most inclusive international and intergovernmental platform for all relevant stakeholders to work together to ensure food security and nutrition.
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13 December 2011 – High food prices in Niger have placed people already hit by shortages under severe pressure as they struggle to feed their families at a time of reduced harvests in the country, which lies in the drought-prone Sahel region of West Africa, a United Nations official said today.
18 November 2011 – The majority of villages in impoverished Niger are now considered to be in a food and nutritional crisis, the United Nations humanitarian wing warned today, with the country facing especially tough times as the annual harvest season ends.
According to a joint UN-Nigerien communiqué, some 6,981 villages are deemed to be vulnerable to food insecurity, with particular concerns over the levels of infant and maternal malnutrition.
28 October 2011 – The United Nations food aid agency announced plans today to scale up its operations inside the poor West African country of Niger, where a poor harvest and insect attacks against cereals have left a million people in need of immediate support.
20 January 2011 – The United Nations food agencies are urging continued assistance for Niger, where acute malnutrition rates remain high despite a good harvest and millions need help to avoid another food crisis.
Last year the Government of Niger, supported by the UN, launched a massive humanitarian intervention which averted the worst effects of a food and nutrition crisis that threatened the lives of more than seven million people and the livelihoods of the country’s farmers and pastoralists.
November 11, 2010—Three countries highly vulnerable to climate change—Bangladesh, Tajikistan and Niger—will each receive $50 million in grants to pilot climate resilience strategies and integrate climate risk into their economic plans, a multinational committee decided yesterday.
26 October 2010 – A food crisis in Niger has been averted as a result of generous donor response, intervention by the United Nations, the Government’s facilitation of the humanitarian effort and good rainfall, but the situation remains fragile, the top UN humanitarian official said today.
Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, told reporters in New York that some five million people have benefited from food aid, but malnutrition rates remained high and many communities around the country require continued assistance.
More than 250,000 have been admitted to nutrition centres since the beginning of this year, she said.
16 October 2010 – Although global aid has helped to stem Niger's food crisis which has affected nearly half of the country's population, more help is needed to ally its longer-term effects, the top United Nations humanitarian official has said while on a visit to the impoverished Sahelian nation.
“We may have avoided the worst, but we must learn the lessons and support longer-term preparedness and development efforts to prevent the increasing frequency of food crises in the country,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos said yesterday in the capital, Niamey, on the second day of her trip to Niger.
14 October 2010 – The top United Nations humanitarian official arrived in Niger today on a visit to help focus world attention on the Sahel, a West African sub-Saharan region that is home to the poorest countries on Earth, with over 10 million people suffering from a food crisis this year alone.
During her three-day visit to Niger, where nearly 7 million of these people try to eke out an existence, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos will meet with representatives of the Government, UN, national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other humanitarian partners.
12 October 2010 – Nearly 1.5 million people have been affected by floods and 377 killed in Western and Central Africa, with Chad, Northern Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria facing a serious cholera epidemic, United Nations relief officials reported today.
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos is due to begin a four-day visit to Nigeria and Niger tomorrow to meet with relief organizations and local authorities as they battle the heavy flooding caused by torrential rains and exceptionally high water levels of the Niger and other rivers.
Press Release No. 10/369
September 30, 2010
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Ms. Laurence Allain visited the Republic of Niger from September 15-30, 2010, to hold discussions regarding the fourth and fifth reviews of the country’s economic program supported by the Extended Credit Facility (ECF). The mission met with the Prime Minister, His Excellency Mahamadou Danda, the Minister of Economy and Finance, His Excellency Mamane Malam Annou, the National Director of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), M. Mahamadou Gado, as well as with other senior government and central bank officials. The mission also met with civil society representatives.
Ms. Allain issued the following statement today in Niamey at the conclusion of the mission:
The spike in food prices of last year (2008) underscored what experts have been telling us for many years: the world's food systems are in crisis