Acute food insecurity Crisis (IPC Phase 3) persists in Tillabery and Tahoua due to protracted conflict

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Acute food insecurity Crisis (IPC Phase 3) persists in the regions of Tillabéry, Tahoua, Maradi, and Diffa due to an unprecedented security crisis that continues to disrupt livelihood activities and trade flows. However, in the Maradi and Diffa regions, this acute food insecurity Crisis is reduced to Stress! (IPC Phase 2!) due to food assistance covering at least 50 percent of energy needs for over 20 percent of the population. That coverage is not the case in the regions of Tillabéry and Tahoua, where the food deficit persists despite households engaging in negative coping strategies such as begging to find additional food resources.
Security and socio-political shocks not only hamper local income-generating opportunities but also disrupt internal and cross-border flows of staple and cash crop food products, resulting in a reduction in market supply and a general rise in food prices. At the national level, average prices for maize, imported rice, sorghum, and millet have risen by 42, 36, 34, and 29 percent, respectively, compared with the five-year average.
In the pastoral zone, it's the peak of the lean season, characterized by the depletion of pasture and the drying up of water sources, leading to a significant change in livestock transhumance. This situation implies a deterioration in the animals’ body conditions, whose prices are low compared with last year and the five-year average. As a result, the decrease in income from the sale of animals has reduced access to food for pastoralist households, whose food purchases from income have decreased by more than 30 percent compared with the five-year average.
The national humanitarian response plan has been developed, but its implementation is not only faced with a funding problem but also a security constraint because, in the fight against terrorism, a decision has been taken to ban all travel into military operation areas without military escorts. However, the plans developed by the partners are being implemented in the Diffa and Maradi regions up to April 2024 but not in the Tillabéry and Tahoua regions, where the escalation of terrorist attacks requires a more significant mobilization of military forces and a greater focus on the fight against terrorist groups than on military escorts.

Recommended citation: FEWS NET. Niger Key Message Update May 2024: Acute food insecurity Crisis (IPC Phase 3) persists in Tillabery and Tahoua due to protracted conflict, 2024.

This Key Message Update provides a high-level analysis of current acute food insecurity conditions and any changes to FEWS NET's latest projection of acute food insecurity outcomes in the specified geography. Learn more here.