Low rains and high risks in Nigeria and Niger

AllAfrica.com via IRIN: Irregular and below-average rains in parts of northeastern Nigeria and eastern Niger have shortened the growing season for many farmers, sparking malnutrition and food insecurity concerns among aid groups and analysts.

In parts of the eastern Sahel, encompassing western Chad, northern Nigeria and southern Niger, the rains came late - in early July - picked up in August, and slowed down in September. Overall they were below-normal when compared to a 1998-2004 average, according to Nick Novella, Africa forecaster at the US climate prediction centre NOAA.

"Rainfall needs to be both sufficient and well-timed in the Sahel to enable some crops the four months they require to mature," World Food Programme's West Africa assessment officer, Jean-Martin Bauer, told IRIN.

Poor rainfall and early sowing failures were experienced in Tillabéri, Maradi, Zinder and Diffa in Niger, and pockets of 11 northern Nigerian states, according to regional weather forecasters and government sources. But WFP's Bauer told IRIN: "It is too early to tell the magnitude of the situation." WFP, the US Agency for International Development's Famine Early Warning System (FEWS NET), agriculture ministries and NGO representatives are assessing the crop and pasture situations in Chad, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Niger this week and next, said Bauer….

The Blue Mountains in Niger in the northeastern section of the Aïr Massif, shot by Jacques Taberlet, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License