Niger
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- The acute food insecurity Crisis (IPC Phase 3) persists in the areas most affected by civil insecurity in the regions of Tillabéry, Tahoua Nord, Diffa, and Maradi. The categories of population in these regions subject to food insecurity are poor households, which represent at least 20% of the total population of these areas. The prevailing insecurity in these areas forces people to leave and abandon the livelihood activities on which they depend for access to food and income. As a result, poor households become unable to cover their food needs without engaging in crisis coping strategies. The food and livelihood protection deficit they face cannot be met by food assistance because, in addition to the low level of funding for humanitarian food response plans, ongoing military operations are limiting the physical access of humanitarian organizations to the areas and populations concerned for the distribution of food aid in these areas. In addition, some 3 to 5 percent of these poor households have large food deficits, which they cannot make up without engaging in emergency coping strategies such as begging. These households are mostly female-headed and made up of disabled members. They are in an acute food insecurity Emergency (IPC Phase 4).
- Conflicts are the drivers of food insecurity, with the number of security incidents declining from September to October 2023, following an upsurge between June and August 2023, according to ACLED data. The forced displacement of people linked to this security crisis has also fallen by 2%, to 426,974 people in October 2023, compared with 436,000 in September 2023. However, the Tillabéry region recorded 188,579 displaced persons in November 2023 compared with 183,008 in August 2023, an increase of 3 percent, according to the monthly bulletin on the overall situation in the region. This increase is due to persistent incursions into the region by non-state armed groups.
- Climatic hazards, including rainfall deficits, long dry spells, and flooding, combined with the abandonment of fields by people forced to move by conflict and insecurity, have caused cereal production to decline by 13% compared with 2022 and by 2% compared to the five-year average. Despite the decrease in agricultural production, the current supply of local cereals, including millet and sorghum, is acceptable. However, supplies of imported products, particularly rice and maize, are in decline due to the decrease in cross-border flows following the closure of borders with Benin and Nigeria. These factors, coupled with reduced internal flows, have caused food prices to rise by more than 15 and 35 percent compared with 2022 and the five-year average, thus limiting food access for poor households in all livelihood zones.
Recommended citation: FEWS NET. Niger Key Message Update November 2023: Acute food insecurity Crisis (IPC Phase 3) persists in conflict-affected areas, 2023.
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.