VZCZCXRO3828
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHNM #0948/01 3351030
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 011030Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY NIAMEY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5488
INFO RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS 0018
RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0220
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0319
RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 1704
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 0281
RHMFISS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NIAMEY 000948 
 
SIPDIS 
AIDAC 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FO AF/W, AF/RSA, EEB/TPP/MTAA/ABT, AND AF/PDPA 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID/AFR/WA - PHUBBARD, TLAVELLE, KTOWERS 
OFDA/W FOR CCHAN, ACONVERY, FSHANKS, MSHIRLEY, JMCINTOSH 
FFP/W FOR JBORNS, JDWORKEN, RHUDSON, SGILBERT 
ACCRA FOR USAID/AFR/WA LFRANCHETTE 
DAKAR FOR RDAVIS AND ZSEMUNEGUS 
GENEVA FOR NKYLOH 
ROME FOR US MISSION 
BRUSSELS FOR USAID PBROWN 
NSC FOR CPRATT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR PGOV EAID SOCI NG
SUBJECT: NIGER: USAID/OFDA PROGRAM MONITORING TRIP KEY FINDINGS 
 
REF: A) NIAMEY 813 B) NIAMEY 862 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  October 26 to November 2, 2009 field observations 
by USAID/Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) Acting 
Senior Program Officer from across the three most easterly regions 
of Niger revealed that cereal prices remain high, harvests are poor 
or non-existent, pasturage is very bad, and local authorities are 
fearful of openly discussing the severity of the situation. 
USAID/OFDA makes recommendations to mitigate the developing food 
security and nutritional crisis.  End summary. 
 
Key Indicators of Food Insecurity Manifest 
------------------------------------------ 
¶2. (SBU) From October 26 to November 2, 2009, USAID/OFDA staff 
monitored USAID/OFDA-funded nutrition and high food price crisis 
response programs in Diffa, Maradi, and Zinder regions.  Through 
observations and discussions throughout the trip with 
non-governmental organization (NGO) partners, program beneficiaries, 
health staff, community and local authorities, and others, 
USAID/OFDA identified four key elements of the unfolding food 
security crisis:  1) cereal prices remain as high as at any similar 
previous time period; 2) late and insufficient rains have caused 
failed or deficit harvests; 3) pasture deficits in 2008 and again in 
2009 have resulted in significant agro-pastoralist community 
migrations to seek new pastures; and 4) local authorities, already 
seized with the problem, fear speaking out on behalf of affected 
communities due to a challenging and threatening political 
environment.  (Note:  Although villages in these regions often tend 
to suffer food insecurity due to extreme poverty and erratic rains, 
any shock such as the current failed harvest has profoundly negative 
effects on families' already fragile coping strategies.  For many 
affected communities, the 2009 deficit harvests, estimated to be 40 
percent across Niger, may herald a period as exceptionally 
food-insecure as those in 1998 or 2004/2005.  End note.) 
 
Local Officials Discreetly Express Concerns 
------------------------------------------- 
¶3. (SBU) In closed-door meetings with USAID/OFDA staff, local 
officials in Maradi, Zinder, and Diffa regions described the deficit 
or failed harvest as a crisis and appealed for assistance. 
Underscoring the severity of the situation, local officials made 
such statements despite fears of censure or retaliation should the 
central government, which asserts that the 2009 harvest was 
reasonable, find out that local officials disagreed. 
 
Maradi Offers Many Reports of Increasing Food Insecurity 
--------------------------------------------- 
¶4. (SBU) In Maradi Region, a regional agricultural official reported 
that five of the region's seven districts were suffering alarming 
food deficits, whereas communities in the two other districts would 
likely "get by," if only barely.  However, a woman's association in 
Djiratawa commune, located in one of the two districts the regional 
official thought would "get by," reported to USAID/OFDA staff that 
women had harvested only one month's supply of food in 2009, 
significantly less than the previous year. 
 
¶5. (SBU) In Maradi's Tessaoua District, the traditional leader 
categorized the failed harvest as a crisis causing migration, and 
stated that local authorities are powerless to respond to the 
rapidly deteriorating conditions.  At the time of the monitoring 
trip, 41 percent of villages in the district were suffering from 
agricultural production deficits and consequently members of 
affected communities were already migrating at very high rates. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Also in Tessaoua District, Majirguri village, elders 
estimated that 30 percent of the villagers, including entire 
families, had migrated since families had neither been able to 
harvest their own food nor earn cash by working in others' fields. 
In previous years, only breadwinners would migrate, typically to 
seek employment in urban areas such as Maradi or across the border 
 
NIAMEY 00000948  002 OF 002 
 
 
in northern Nigeria.  Driving the migrations are not only failed 
harvests and lack of cash with which to buy the food still available 
in the markets, but also inadequate fodder for livestock. 
 
¶7. (SBU) In Maradi Region, Aguie District, the Save the Children 
pediatrician working with inpatient malnutrition cases at the 
district hospital reported treating significantly more cases this 
year than last year.  In addition, Save the Children staff commented 
that while mothers are normally happy when their cured children are 
released, mothers have of late often expressed sadness or 
discouragement when the child is released from hospital, since there 
is little food at home. 
 
Diffa Food Insecurity Leading to Destocking and Migration 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
¶8. (SBU) Similarly, in Issari Kassoum village, Maine-Soroa District, 
Diffa Region, women who last year harvested gumbo (okra), peanuts, 
and millet reported not having sufficient food this year to feed 
families for even one month.  Women in the village are coping with 
the current crisis by decreasing the number of meals eaten and 
selling livestock.  In addition, heads of households, and sometimes 
whole families, are migrating from the village.  In DiQ Region, 80 
percent of the population depends on livestock for livelihoods.  In 
a visit to Kabelawa village, N'Guigmi District, near the border with 
Chad, USAID/OFDA staff learned from the village health officer that 
50 percent of villagers had already migrated.  USAID/OFDA staff 
observed groups of pastoralists and camels migrating south in search 
of pasture approximately four months earlier than usual.  In 
addition, the failed harvests have raised concerns regarding 
potentially increased acute malnutrition. 
 
Recommendations Stemming from Field Trip 
---------------------------------------- 
¶9. (SBU) Following the monitoring trip, USAID/OFDA suggests the USG 
consider the following in order to mitigate the developing food 
security and nutrition crisis:  1) increase contributions to the 
ready-to-eat therapeutic food pipeline; 2) increase efforts to 
detect and respond to acute malnutrition; and 3) consider seriously 
cash transfers, vouchers, and other livelihood initiatives through 
current UN and NGO partners to mitigate against food insecurity in 
areas suffering from a deficit in agricultural production. 
 
 
ALLEN