Acharity organisation, CARE and other aid agencies in Niger have expressed fears that the country is already in the first stage of hunger crisis.

Other countries in huger crisis similar to that of Niger are Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania.

Governments in all these countries have declared states of emergency.

The hunger crisis particularly in Niger, the charity organisations said is affecting millions of people in Niger.

It doesn’t take long, they said, for the situation to deteriorate from phase one to three.

“The knock on the door is a sign of bad things to come.

“Do you have any work?” they ask.

They have fled their villages and come into the city out of desperation.

“Their bellies ache from hunger.

“For those of us in the city, we are seeing the first signs of food crisis spreading across our country.

“We have seen it before. It has already started, and it is coming fast.”

These are the words of Haoua Lankoande, a manager with the humanitarian agency, CARE wrote in a recent blog post from the Niger capital, Niamey.

“Do you have any food?” they ask. “I haven’t eaten in three days.”

“The first phase of hunger drives villagers into the city; the second phase brings knocks on the door,” Lankoande wrote.

Eventually in phase three, Lankoande said, people don’t ask anymore.

“You wake up and go outside in the morning, and there is a family sleeping on your doorstep.

“They don’t ask for anything, they just look up at you, hoping.”

Also expressing fears about the situation is Cassandra Nelson, spokeswoman for Mercy Corps, who said: “What we are seeing is a tip of the iceberg.

“Nearly half of Niger does not have enough to eat.

“The 5.4 million people struggling to stay alive are part of a wider crisis affecting at least 10 million people across the swath across Africa that borders the Sahara, known as the Sahel.

“This is the third time in the last decade the people of the Sahel have faced severe food shortages,” she said.

The food crisis is said to have been caused by drought and high food prices which is exacerbated by an ongoing conflict in Mali between the military and Tuareg rebels that has forced people to flee into neighbouring nations.

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