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| Africa: Subsaharan |
| Niger Struggles to Find Hunger Solutions |
| 2005-08-13 |
| When aid workers pack up after dealing with the hunger emergency in Niger and other nations along the Sahara, leaders will be left struggling to find lasting solutions to the chronic lack of food in much of Africa. The U.S. ambassador to Niger, Dennise Mathieu, said, "Over the long term, donors and government will also have to look at other factors," not just responding to emergencies like the current food crisis. "In Niger there is a long-term problem of chronic food insecurity," Mathieu said Thursday. Up to 80 percent of Niger's territory is arid or semiarid. The majority of its 11 million people live in villages, surviving on subsistence agriculture in a narrow band of arable land along the country's southern border. Farmers struggle with erratic rainfall, pest attacks and soil degradation. The United Nations says the combined effects of drought and locusts have left some 3.6 million people in Niger facing severe food shortages this year. Children are most at risk, with some 800,000 under age 5 needing to be fed urgently, the United Nations says. At least 1.6 million people in nearby Mali, Burkina Faso and Mauritania also are affected, the world body says. Even in "normal" times, two-thirds of Niger's population lives on less than $1 a day and 40 percent of children show signs of malnutrition. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #11 Frank is right. Having only a few children is the luxury of those of us who live in a safe world where everybody lives to a healthy adulthood. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-08-13 16:53 |
| #10 Not my concern - I was simply stating a fact - in places where many children don't make it to adulthood (to take care of parents in infirmity and old age) - they have shitloads of kids, hoping some will make it. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-08-13 16:18 |
| #9 Frank, quit wrestling with your conscience; those people need either someone with a cape and an S on his chest or someone who throw thunderbolts! The tsunami in Indonesia is an excellent example, after the loving and quick support of America, they wanted us out after 3 months. |
| Posted by: smn 2005-08-13 16:05 |
| #8 The solution is plain, have two, and then there's enough for those two to survive, not ten and then have eight starve and two survive, the starving dead consume more than the two survivors ever would, leaving the whole family poorer than before. Simple, easy, workable and humane, that's four reasons right there why it'll never be done. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2005-08-13 15:04 |
| #7 needless to say, they also have so many children knowing that not that many will make it to adulthood in such a harsh environment |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-08-13 14:54 |
| #6 "Up to 80 percent of Niger's territory is arid or semiarid." If I choose to live in the desert, why should anyone feel obliged to feed me? If I choose to live in the desert and have lots of children, why should anyone feel obliged to feed them? My ancestors wandered the world to find a better life. The people of Niger need to pull up stakes too. I'm all for helping to relocate them, but not for feeding them for eternity. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2005-08-13 14:37 |
| #5 Shining like a super nova Barbara. |
| Posted by: smn 2005-08-13 14:19 |
| #4 Niger (and other African nations) wants help with their latest in a long string of crises? Here's some help: Rule of law, respect for private property, help people start businesses (particularly small ones) instead of shackling them with anti-business rules and graft, education for all, accept GM seed for planting and GM grain for temporary food relief (and tell the Euros to go to hell - feed your own people before you worry about feeding theirs). You're welcome. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2005-08-13 12:49 |
| #3 While I don't think it's our responsibility - or possible - to give everyone a full place or peaceful, democratic government, I do think it's in our interests to help trends in that direction. There are no hermetic borders we can retreat behind and continue to be safe and prosperous disconnected from the world as a whole. |
| Posted by: true nuff 2005-08-13 10:55 |
| #2 Dennise, come home to your loving America. Take a nice warm bath, steak and wine dinner and forget about Niger! It was here before you were born, and it will be here after your gone. |
| Posted by: smn 2005-08-13 03:23 |
| #1 Let them eat |
| Posted by: Joe Wilson 2005-08-13 03:10 |