2005–2006 Niger food crisis

It was caused by an early end to the 2004 rains, desert locust damage to some pasture lands, high food prices, and chronic poverty.

[3] The fertility rate in Niger is the highest in the world at 7.6 children per woman,[4] and the population of the country is projected to increase tenfold in the 21st century to more than 200 million people in 2100.

The scarcity of water and fodder also adversely affected the health of the cattle, camels, sheep and goats that comprise virtually the only source of food and income for nomadic communities.

[13] In late August 2005, the profile of the crisis was raised after UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan visited President Tandja Mamadou in Zinder.

They argued that, while chronic malnutrition has been issue for populations of Niger, the media erroneously and deliberately portrayed common local dietary habits as signs of widespread famine to appeal to donors' sympathy.

The BBC claimed to have refuted TV2's allegations unequivocally,[16] and attempted to block the international release of the documentary by withdrawing TV2's license to news footage from the summer of 2005.

Niger vegetation maps. Above, July 2004; below, July 2005. Green is a vegetation surplus, brown a deficit. NASA
Malnourished children in Niger, during the 2005 famine.
Laure Souley holds her three-year-old daughter and an infant son at a MSF aide centre during the 2005 famine, Maradi, Niger.
A mother tends to her malnourished infant at the Maradi MSF aide centre, during the 2005 Nigerien famine.