WRITTEN QUESTION P-1793/01

by Marie-Arlette Carlotti (PSE) to the Commission

(12 June 2001)

Subject: Food situation in Niger

Over the last twenty years, Niger has spent more than 170 million euros on providing 17 000 water supply points in rural areas.

Despite this major effort the food situation in Niger remains precarious and it has become particularly worrying in recent years on account of a persistent drought.

The food shortage is alarming, particularly in the most vulnerable areas, and the rural exodus prompted by the drought is gathering pace.

What emergency action (food aid) has been taken by the Commission in order to prevent a humanitarian disaster?

What initiatives does the Commission intend to continue or implement in order to safeguard agricultural production in Niger (such as support for the establishment of cereal banks and for the creation or refurbishment of water supply points in livestock rearing areas, the performance of a feasibility and impact study in connection with a micro-dam programme, etc.)?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(23 July 2001)

After starting well the 2000/2001 farm year saw extended periods of drought in late August/early September, which, accompanied by swarms of parasites, have led to much lower output than forecast. The cereal balance has proved unreliable, varying as it does from one source to another. Monitoring cereal prices has therefore been the preferred method for assessing food security. This indicator shows that the year has been mediocre but not disastrous, which is why the Commission has no plans for emergency aid. The situation in some areas is nevertheless worrying: non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and bilateral or multilateral partners are focusing on those areas.

Operations are decided in Niger by a joint consultative commission, the CMC, which comprises the government, official donors contributing to the CMC-run system and public institutions providing effective and permanent food aid to Niger.

Its role is to determine the use of a number of hunger-relief and -prevention tools:

- physical reserves in the form of a national security stock (SNS) used to distribute food free of charge in areas where the situation is judged critical

- financial reserves in the form of a food security fund (FSA) used to regulate prices on the cereal market (the sale of cereals at moderate prices)

- a common intervention fund financed by the donors (FI-FCD) for cash-for-work, food-for-work or self-sufficiency programmes

- bilaterally-managed food aid counterpart funds.

The CMC draws its information from the early-warning system (EWS) set up to monitor communities at risk and analyse the data gathered and from the cereal and livestock market information systems (SIMs).

The Community has been using the budget heading for food security to support the government's famine prevention and management system since 1996. So far 25 000 tonnes have been mobilised this season. The Community has directly contributed by making available 1 000 tonnes of cereals. It has also contributed CFAF 3 430 000 000 towards the FSA and the FI-FCD for 2000-2001. Furthermore, about 2 million has been set aside for financing NGO operations (Care DK and SOS-Sahel).

In addition to support from the budget heading, food security has been a focal sector for the Eighth European Development Fund (EDF), accounting for commitments of about 40 million over the period 1999-2001) and should remain a focal sector under the ninth EDF. The rural development projects financed by the EDF build on successful experiments to improve the food security of rural communities: collective or individual irrigation schemes, support for better management of natural resources (soil rehabilitation, land management and reafforestation), development of microfinancing, establishment of cereal and agricultural-input banks, financing of livestock-watering and drinking-water points, support for farmers' and women's organisations, market research studies, stock-farming activities and, in the future, support for agricultural research in Niger.