19
Long term nutritional impact
As a result of the long term stagnation in food production per capita, its increasing instability,
growing dependence on volatile imports, stagnant GDP per capita and purchasing power,
and persistence of poverty among about 70 percent of the population (Table 2), the
nutritional status of a large part of Nigeriens broadly stagnated and in some cases worsened
(Figure 7). While The U5MR – which is especially sensitive to the introduction of public health
measures such as vaccination campaigns and oral rehydration therapy – steadily declined,
this is not the case for most indicators of child nutrition, which instead reflect an increasingly
difficult access to nutritious food and poor feeding practices
15
.
Indeed, most of Niger’s nutritional indicators show a clearly unsatisfactory performance over
the last 20 years compared to the average of other SSA countries and the developing
countries more generally. In particular, while between 1990 and 2009 the percentage of low
birth weights fell by 27 and 13 per cent in the developing countries and SSA respectively, in
Niger it increased by 80 percent over 2005-2009. Similarly, despite a downward trend in the
developing world and in Sub Saharan Africa, the percentage of under fives underweight
(relative to their age) in Niger increased during the last 20 years from 36 percent between
1990-1996 to 41 percent between 2003-2009
16
.
Since 1996, the Government of Niger has developed a National Food and Nutrition Policy and
a National Plan of action for Nutrition, which has been amended in 2002 and revised in 2006,
but it has not been officially adopted by the government, clearly showing the low priority
attached to it.
At the same time, since 2005 Niger has a National Nutrition Protocol for the treatment of
acute under-nutrition which has been updated several times (2006 and 2009). Yet, despite
the huge improvements recorded in 2010 (see later), insufficient resources, a poor National
Health Information System and logistical constraints hampered the integration of community
based management of acute malnutrition into the health system (Sanchez & Montero 2011).
Malawi
Food production
Food production in Malawi is dominated by the subsistence farming of maize and, to a lesser
extent, cassava. Crop diversification is limited, and less than 20 percent of the maize output is
marketed. Only around 10 percent of farming households use irrigation, and the majority of
households’ food productions still are vulnerable to changes in rainfall and soil degradation.
As noted in section 3, 85 percent of the population works in agriculture, a fact that raises
pressure on land, particularly in the Central and Southern region (Figure 4)
,
where density
respectively rose from 87 to 155 people per Sq. km and from 125 to 185 between 1987 and
2008 (World Food Programme, 2010). Falling farm size and soil fertility have thus become an
obstacle to the production of enough food for self-consumption even in good crop years
(Harrigan, 2008).
15
WHO, Nutrition at a glance: Niger. Available at www. http://siteresources.worldbank.org
16
Niger has higher rates of stunting than some of its neighbors Burkina Faso and Mali.
20
Figure 7- Niger: evolution of nutritional and mortality data in the last 20 years
Note: To facilitate the comparison with previous periods, the estimates of underweight children follow the
National Centre for Health Statistics/WHO reference population and not the new ‘WHO Child Growth Standards’
introduced in 2006
Source: UNICEF, “The Status of the World’s Children” 1997, 2001, 2004, 2009, 2011
Food security correlates with farm size (Table 4) as only households with more than 1.0
hectare can produce enough maize, raise a sufficient number of heads of cattle, and obtain
credit for agricultural inputs. In contrast, households affected by poor food security own up
to 0.8 hectares, produce a meagre 48.5 kilograms of maize per year and have no access to
fertilizers.
T
able 4 - Malawi: Food security situation by size of land holding - percentage values (2008/09)
Food security
group
No land
<0.5
0.5-1.0
1.0-2.0
2.0-4.0
<4
Poor
3
12
35
36
12
2
Borderline
2
10
31
33
18
5
Acceptable
2
7
26
36
20
9
Source: World Food Programme, 2010
As in Niger, smallholders are forced to sell part of their crops at low prices immediately after
the harvest and to buy food at higher prices for the subsequent 6 to 9 months by selling
goats, pigs and chickens and doing ganyu, i.e. casual labour in exchange of food or cash
(Figure 8).