Nigeria, others may experience food crisis in 2012 ' Oxfam

An international agency, Oxfam, has warned that millions of people in Nigeria and other West African countries at risk of food crisis following low rainfall and water levels, poor harvests, lack of pasture and high food prices. It said early indicators pointed to a likely food crisis in 2012, with people in northern Nigeria, Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Chad particularly at high risk, stressing the urgency of investing in preventive measures. Northern Nigeria, according to Oxfam, may be affected by the looming food crisis because of low rainfall.Oxfam Humanitarian Lead in West Africa, Mr. Mamadou Biteye, who revealed this on the agencys website, added that the concerned countries could be protected from a serious food crisis if preparations were scaled up across the sub-region.He called on governments across the region, which had already recognised the seriousness of the looming crisis, to scale up efforts to make sure that people had money to buy food, receive animal feed for their livestock and ensured that emergency food was stocked and ready to be distributed.Biteye said, "The situation is looking extremely worrying for millions of people in West Africa, but the worst is not yet inevitable. "The crisis has been identified early, and we know that there are cost-effective measures that can be taken now to protect those most vulnerable. This time, we can act before the emergency hits."Early warning systems have identified a range of factors that are contributing to the coming crisis. Low rainfall and water levels, poor harvests and lack of pasture, high food prices and a drop in remittances from migrants are all causing serious problems, according to the agency. According to national early warning systems, cereal production is down compared to the five-year average, with Mauritania and Chad showing deficits of over 50 per cent compared to last year. National food reserves are dangerously low, while prices of some key cereals are up to 40 per cent higher than the five-year average.
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