Niger

Niger is a landlocked and food-deficit Sahel country. Gender disparities persist and continue to strongly challenge the country’s development.
WFP/Simon Pierre Diouf

Aggravated by Conflict

Food and nutrition insecurity in Niger are significant. This situation stems from environmental degradation, security constraints and high demographic growth. Irregular rainfall, rising temperatures and desertification mark the ecological fragility of the country. This in turn has a significant negative impact on livelihoods as the economy is strongly reliant on climate sensitive sectors such as agriculture.

Conflict in three neighboring countries aggravate the situation. The conflict in northern Nigeria has displaced people, many of whom are chronically malnourished, into the Lake Chad Basin area. Fighting has spilled over the border, deepening local hunger and endangering host communities, refugees and humanitarian workers.

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Girl holding small tree WFP/Evelyn Fey/2021
Make a difference in Niger

WFP’s Work in Niger

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has been working in Niger since 1968. Currently, our work aims to alleviate hunger and malnutrition in emergency situations as well as provide long-term, resilience-building activities.
Niger, Sabon Machi, Maradi, 16 August 2018

RBA UN Agencies (FAO, WFP and IFAD) along with the Government of Niger and other partners visited the agropastoral Maradi region of Niger to understand the context and local priorities, especially the needs of women and other vulnerable groups in the area. In Niger, as in many other parts of the Sahel, climate shocks have resulted in recurring droughts with devastating impacts on the region's already vulnerable populations.

In the Photo: a group of woman working at sorghum crops wait upon the arrival of a United Nations convoy near the village of Sabon Machi, Maradi region, Niger on August 16, 2018.

Photo: FAO/IFAD/WFP/Luis Tato
Emergency Relief
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has been working in Niger since 1968. Currently, our work aims to alleviate hunger and malnutrition in emergency situations as well as provide long-term, resilience-building activities.
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Niger, Zinder, Dagouji, 27 July 2019

Niger is a landlocked country in the Sahel region faced with a food-deficit and low-income levels. Growing at 4 percent per year, Niger has one of the highest population growth rates per year in the world and is home to over 18 million people. Life expectancy at birth is 58 years, but one in ten children do not reach five years of age. Of the children under five, over 40 percent are chronically malnourished and about 15 percent acutely malnourished, with malnutrition linked to a third of childhood deaths. WFP provides food assistance to poor households, coupled with nutrition supplements to prevent acute malnutrition and mortality for children between 6 and 23 months, and pregnant and lactating mothers from very poor households.

In the Photo: A medical worker vaccinates a child in Dagouji village, Zinder, Niger. This site also serves as a WFP cash transfer point.

Photo: WFP/Simon Pierre Diouf
Nutrition
WFP’s nutrition program in Niger focuses on children under 2 years old, pregnant and nursing women and young girls. Within this framework, WFP supports treatment of moderate acute malnutrition, prevention of malnutrition and integration of micronutrients.
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schoolgirls sitting in classroom
School Meals
WFP partners with Niger’s Ministry of Education to deliver school meals and promotes homegrown school meals.
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A man stands on a hillside surrounded by goats.
Food For Assets
In exchange for food assistance, beneficiaries create or rebuild community assets like ponds.
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