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DROUGHT,
DESERTIFICATION AND FAMINE: CHALLENGES FOR FOOD SECURITY IN NIGER REPUBLIC
ABSTRACT
The
food crises in Niger are structural, mainly related to the performance of the
agricultural sector. The agricultural sector is dominant and is characterised
by stagnation in production due to natural, human, technical and political
obstacles. This often lead to food crises even famine and starvation. . In
recent years, several occurrences of their resurgence were recorded. Measures
taken and strategies implemented so far have failed to prevent or mitigate
these food crises.
2. The
paper aims firstly at assessing the policies conducted to achieve the goal of
food security. The analysis is based on historical data covering the period
1967-2007. The second goal was to identify the factors of food crises. The
result highlights several factors of food crisis: lack of investment, climate,
population, grain prices and productivity. These variables are tested to
measure the impact of actions aimed at attaining food security. The results
establish a strong correlation between famine and deficit of grain production.
Diversification, irrigation, land regeneration techniques among other actions
have been shown to mitigate the effects of low production due to rain fall
uncertainties.
3. The
paper proposes to adopt a comprehensive food security policy to be implemented
on the short, medium and long terms. The short term component will endeavour to
give the state the means to intervene in emergency situation. In the medium
term the accent should be on increasing food production by mean of irrigation.
In the long term issues of environmental degradation shall be addressed to
reclaim land lost to desertification.
CHAPTER ONE
1.1. INTRODUCTION
The inability of man to meet his food needs has
continued to pose challenges to his livelihood and survival. This could be as
the result of harsh natural conditions or due to social and economic factors.
Governments’ role is to provide an environment conducive for citizens to meet
their food demands. Failure to achieve that goal can lead to social
disturbances and economic crises. The consequences of these crises are
deterioration in living conditions and the advent of poverty and sometimes
hunger.
Poverty and hunger, when occurring at a large scale
and for an extended period of time, lead to famine. Recurring onsets of famine are a serious food
security threat for Niger. The issue concerns the larger portion of the population
living from agricultural activities. In Niger, as in other African countries
especially those in the Sahel, agriculture is suffering from climate
instability, lack of adequate infrastructure and bad economic policies. Other
obstacles to rural economic progress include; Increase in food demand by a
growing population, urbanization which is emptying rural areas from workforce,
absence of bank credit support for agriculture, reluctance by, or inability of,
the State to invest in agriculture.
Succession of bad crop years prevents farmers from
generating a stable cash flow and substantial savings to finance productive
investment. The immediate consequence is the increased dependency on food
imports on one hand(GON Annual report, 2008:29) and international emergency aid
on the other hand. In Niger, deficits can reach record levels of 600,000 tons
corresponding to 80% of deficit (Ibidem, 29). Over the period between 1980 and
2010, the gap between demand and supply indicates an average rate deficit of
22% per year (Ibid 29).The gap is thus wide and permanent. By weakening the
nutritional status of the population, the recurrence of deficits reduces the
ability to produce. The drop in productivity leads to even larger deficits,
making savings impossible at a moment when health problems due to nutritional
deficiencies increase financial needs.
1.2. NIGER’S
GDP STRUCTURE
The analysis of the structure of Niger's GDP in this
chapter is destined to show why the country is always in the throes of famine
and food insecurity: The facts are simple: The economy of Nigeris dominated by
agriculture (INS, 2008: 35) which is feeding close to 80 per cent of the
population (INS, 2008: 37). The agriculture is characterized by low
productivity and a heavy dependence on rain fall.Uncertainties created by this
situation are at the heart of food crises in Niger and constitute the subject
of this research.
Agriculture, livestock, fisheries, and forests are
the main sector of activity for the primary sector. The primary sector’s
contribution to the GDP is estimated at 44, 5% from 1998 to 2008. The primary
sector is closely followed by the tertiary sector (trade and services) whose
share has remained stable at around 40 per cent on average during the period
1998-2008. In the third position is the secondary sector (mining and industrial
activities) that has fluctuated between 16 per cent and 12 per cent of GDP
during the same period (INS, 2008).
The
weak share of the secondary sector reflects the low level of industrialization.
The sector is constrained by the liberalization policy, the difficulties of
supply of raw materials, high cost of isolation, competition from industrial
products from Nigeria and the narrowness of the market. Yet, there exist huge
potential. Comparative advantages in the area of livestock mean that an
agro-pastoral industry of transformation and processing could contribute to
food security and job creation. The mining sector dominated by uranium does
provide substantial contribution to the coffer of the Government but remains
isolated from the rest of the economy (RGP, Ministry of Planning, 2008).
Despite
the present poor state of agriculture, economic development of Niger is
inevitably in the dynamics of agricultural sector. Only agro-pastoral
industries possess the potential for growth needed to pull the rest of the
economy and create the conditions for the development of a genuine food
security. In total, the negative underlying trends of the Nigerien economy have
serious consequences on efforts to improve the economic and social wellbeing of
a population ravaged by poverty. The weakness in human capital and poor
educational status of the population are also key determinants of poor economic
performance of Niger (Institut des Statistics, 2008: 29).
1.3. STATEMENT
OF THE PROBLEM
The
predominance of the primary sector which depends heavily on weather conditions,
is poorly diversified and has low productivity is at the core of the structural
food insecurity in the country. The food insecurity, that is, the daily fight
for subsistence, means that the peasant population is unable to break the cycle
of poverty. The poverty compounds the effects of food crises and turns them
into famine.
This
paper aims to understand the mechanisms that lead to famines and the
characteristics of food crises in Niger. It will review agricultural policies
and assess their impact on food security. It will look at mechanisms of
prevention and management of outbreak of famines. To do this, the research
shall seek to answer the following questions:
a. What
are the influences of the economic international environment on agriculture
development in Niger?
b. What
are the effects of Niger successive Governments policies on agriculture
development and hence on food security?
c. What
are the strategies put in place to respond to food crises in the country?
d. What
are the factors of the food crises and what to do to remedy the situation?
1.4. OBJECTIVE
OF THE STUDY
The Objectives of the study stems from these
questions and are as follows:
a. To
examine the global context impacting agricultural development in Niger.
b. To
review government’s policies,put in place since the independence, destined to
achieving food security.
c. To
assess the mechanisms of management of food crises and the responses of various
actors to food insecurity.
d. To
identify factors and variables leading to food crises and famines.
e. To
proffer solutions for an effective agricultural policy aimed at addressing the
root causes of food insecurity in Niger.
1.5. RESEARCH
HYPOTHESIS AND ASSUMPTIONS
Economists
agree on the hypothesis that crises and economic downturns are determined by a
wide range of variablesincluding the role and mode of intervention of the
state. They differ on the causes, interpretations of these variables. But most
economists believe today that crises are rooted in a combination of endogenous
and exogenous factors. Joseph Stiglitz made an important contribution to this
debate by showing that inadequate skills and weak capability of economic agents
to anticipate crises often account for the fluctuations in economic activity
(Making Globalisation work, Stiglitz, 2006).
In
the case of Niger, poorly or not at all anticipated fluctuations of
agricultural activities can turn into crises. Crises that start in one sector
quickly become systemic, combining economic, social and political
characteristics. Food crises in Niger are systemic and have had serious
political and social consequences on the fabric of the society.
1.6. SIGNIFCANCE
OF THE STUDY
The
most challenging political question in Niger is that of food security. Food
security questions dominate all policy statements, are the reason for political
instability and constitute the main preoccupation of development partners. Securing
sustainable food security features high on the agenda of the Strategy for Rural
Development (SRD) as well as the Strategy for Poverty Alleviation (SPA) both of
which were developed and adopted by the Government, as strategies aimed at
creating better conditions for the wellbeing of Niger’s populations. A research
that can shed light on these important issue is therefore of paramount
significance.
1.7. SCOPE OF
THE STUDY
The
study has covered back and forth the four distinctive periods of agricultural
policies in Niger: The period from 1960
to 1974, where the accent was on the production of
cash crop for export, the period corresponding to the Uranium boom (1974 to
1984) when the government invested heavily in agriculture and food subsidies to
attain self-sufficiency and the period from 1985 to the late 90swhen the World
Bank Structural Adjustment Policies (SAP) restricted government intervention in
the agricultural sector. The study also covers the period of the Poverty
Alleviation Programmes or Poverty Reduction Plans (PRP) put in place from the
year 2000 in order to mitigate the catastrophic effects of SAP.
1.8. LIMITATIONS
There
are two categories of variable determining food crises. The first category is
referred to as simple variables there are: production volumes, quantity of rain
fall and prices. Theyhave been subjected to an empirical analysis using direct
observations of tables and charts. Limitations of time and space, in the
framework of this research, make it difficult to use the same method to account
for the influence of more complex variables (governance, capital expenditure,
yields and productivity). For these variables the work of Tarno and Abdo, two researchers
from the University of Niamey was used.
The two researchers having arrived at similar conclusions than this
study as far as the first category of independent variables was concerned, it
was inferred that their method to analyse the more complex variables was valid.
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