|PIC1|Niger is set to face another food crisis not long after the international aid community narrowly avoided a massive famine in the country after launching appeals to alert the global community, warns Action by Churches Together International.

The global church body is predicting that critical food shortages could start appearing in the country in as soon as two to three months.

Members of the ACT International alliance are already working in the region following last year’s food crisis in large parts of the country, triggered by drought and swarms of locusts which destroyed many crops.

ACT International has been working in the affected areas since the last crisis to make food more available and implement measures to prevent a new catastrophe.

Two members in particular, the U.S.-based Lutheran World Relief (LWF) and HEKS (Swiss Interchurch Aid), have been spearheading the ACT response with provisions including immediate food assistance and resources to improve future food security.

|TOP|A fresh appeal is being launched by ACT to follow the progress made from the first one started last July, as ACT members grow increasingly concerned with the precarious food situation that continues in Niger.

LWR and HEKS are already preparing for another food crisis, predicted by some to be worse than the 2005 famine, by stockpiling cereal and seeds in remote and vulnerable villages.

ACT highlighted the huge need for funding assistance to provide ongoing support for the affected populations.

“The challenges are vast, and many people are affected. There is a large need for funding assistance to help the affected population in the immediate term,” said Ingvild Langhus, a programme coordinator for West Africa with Norwegian Church Aid, a member of ACT International.

|AD|He stressed, however, that there was an even greater need for ensuring food security and political support for the prevention of future crises through training and changes in agricultural practices adapted to the changes in environment.

ACT has been supporting several projects, through LWR and HEKS, which provide training in off-season agriculture which has grown considerably in light of the ongoing food shortages. The projects also include income generation training as well as food distribution.

Smaller NGOs like LWR and HEKS also continue to work with local partners in the regions supported by United Nations food distributions until the UN was stopped in December 2005 following criticism from Niger’s president that international organisations were simply charging into his country to provide support without coordinating with the government.

The UN is awaiting the approval of the president of Niger before it can resume food distributions.

ACT warned the situation is critical for more than three of the country’s population of 11 million, as last year’s harvest is set to last less than four months and the agricultural deficit continues to increase year by year.