WFP distributes post-harvest cash in Niger

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today announced the launch of an innovative cash distribution programme for the most vulnerable families that are rebuilding their lives after the devastating drought.

Cash assistance over the next two months will provide an alternative form of funds to buy food so that families are less inclined to consume the special rations of highly nutritious supplementary foods WFP is distributing to young children. It will also serve to boost incomes and increase purchasing power in the post-harvest season.

“Despite the indications of good harvests this season, there still is a need to protect the nutritional food ration given to children under two to stave off acute malnutrition,” said WFP Country Director Richard Verbeeck.

Even though the prospects for harvests in Niger are good, many people, such as herding families and small farmers, have lost livestock and fallen into debt. WFP will provide 35,000 households in the worst-hit areas with cash -- instead of the general food ration they were receiving previously.

Households in Maradi, Tahoua and Zinder – the regions most affected by lack of food and animal fodder and the consequent high levels of debt and loss of livestock-- will receive 15,000 CFA (US$30) per month for two months.

The cash will be distributed by NGO partners and microfinance institutions working with WFP and handed over when families collect their children's food rations.

Giving cash instead of food is a new approach WFP deploys particularly when food is available in markets but inaccessible to the food-insecure because prices are too high for the poor. The money is spent in local markets, benefitting farmers and traders.

WFP also piloted a Cash for Work project in Niger in August this year, where around 5,000 households received cash for undertaking agricultural work, such as planting trees to reduce erosion, improve soil fertility and preserve the environment.

From August through October, at the height of the lean season, WFP provided more than 5 million people in Niger with life-saving food assistance, dispatching in total around 90,000 metric tons of food.

This article was originally posted on Sustainable Development Africa Platform

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