The UN increased its appeal to over US$75 million to help 2.5 million people in desperate need of food in Niger and said more money will be needed to tackle the humanitarian crisis in the west African nation.
The UN World Food Program (WFP) more than tripled the amount of emergency aid it is seeking for southern Niger -- the epicenter of the crisis -- from US$16 million six months ago to US$57.6 million.
"With the situation deteriorating over recent weeks, our main objective is to save lives," James Morris, executive director of the Rome-based agency said in a statement. "Whole families are suffering because of a desperate shortage of food, which has forced them to eat just one meal a day of maize, leaves or wild fruits."
The UN Children's Fund also increased its appeal to US$14 million and deputy director Rima Salah was due to arrive in Niger on Wednesday for a first-hand look at the needs of hundreds of thousands of youngsters suffering from severe and moderate malnutrition.
The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization appealed for US$4 million to provide Niger's farmers with seeds for the next planting season and to replenish the livestock of families who have lost or been forced to sell their animals. The combined appeals totaled US$75.6 million.
Two weeks ago, UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said Niger was facing "an acute humanitarian crisis" in which children were dying because the world community ignored UN appeals for urgent aid.
He said 2.5 million people desperately needed food, including 800,000 malnourished children. Some 150,000 of those children will die soon "unless we really get to step up our operation," he warned.
Niger, one of the poorest in the world, was devastated by an invasion of locusts that ate everything green last year and was then hit by drought that lasted until early July.
The first UN appeal for help last November got almost no response. Another appeal for US$16 million in March got about US$1 million. An appeal in May for US$30 million only started receiving major donations after TV showed pictures of Niger's hungry and malnourished.
The WFP said its previous request for US$16 million has now been fully funded. With money from its new appeal, WFP will target 2.5 million people facing severe hunger in the south and provide extra food to children and mothers until the end of the lean season. Rations for three months after the October harvest will be provided for a further 500,000 people to serve as a safety net. But the failure of donors to respond quickly has significantly raised the cost of helping Niger.
When the first UN appeal was made, only US$1 a day for each needy person would have helped solve the food crisis, the UN said. Now US$80 is needed each day per person because it is more expensive to treat people once they are weakened by malnutrition, officials say.
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