Niamey, October 14, 2008 -- As a result of an increase in international food prices and low grain production in 2007, the Government of Niger has adopted a number of measures to meet the needs of vulnerable populations and achieve a sustainable increase in domestic agricultural production.
World Bank assistance was requested to help implement the measures, which included a food crisis contingency and management plan. The Board of Directors of the Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) approved the request in August 2008 in the form of a grant of approximately CFAF 3 billion (US$7 million) to finance the Emergency Food Security Support Project.
Ousmane Diagana, the World Bank representative in Niger (left) signs the accord with Ali Lamine Zeine, Niger's Finance Minister.
The main objectives of this grant, which is expected to be implemented over 18 months, are to provide support for irrigated rice production (purchase of mineral fertilizers and capacity-building of the National Food Crisis Prevention and Management Framework, the project’s executing agency) and to achieve household food security.
“Rather than offering us grain, the World Bank has wisely chosen, at the request of the Government, to help us produce this grain,” Minister Ali Lamine Zeine said during the grant signing ceremony in September. “Such a choice offers countless positive effects.”
As beneficial as this agreement was, the State of Niger, whose economy is experiencing somewhat of an upturn owing to resources derived from mineral exploitation, has decided to supplement this effort by funding its own initiatives, with the aim of strengthening further food security.
The alarming spike in the prices of essential food products during the Ramadan period prompted the Government to adopt an emergency measure to subsidize the prices of widely consumed food products such as rice and sugar. This operation entailed placing 3,000 metric tons of rice and sugar on the market at almost half their price. Owing to the positive effects of this initiative, this operation is still underway, although prices have been increased slightly.
The other measure taken by the Government to strengthen food security for vulnerable populations consisted of the infusion of CFAF 11 billion (approximately US$25 million) into trade channels for the marketing of cowpea. Niger is the leading exporter of this product in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) zone.
This operation which, according to the Government, targets an increase in producer revenue, will permit producers to sell a 100 kg sack of cowpea for CFAF 25,000 instead of CFAF 8,000 – 12,000 on the market at the start of the harvest season.
Despite its relatively limited scope – it will have an impact on a mere three to four percent of overall production, estimated at approximately 1.5 million metric tons this year -- this operation has been unanimously heralded by producers, who see it as a beginning in controlling the trade channels for cash crops. Implementation responsibility for this operation has been assigned to the Office des Produits Vivriers du Niger (OPVN).
RSS