DFAP - Reducing Food Insecurity and Malnutrition Among Vulnerable Rural Population in Niger
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Transcript of DFAP - Reducing Food Insecurity and Malnutrition Among Vulnerable Rural Population in Niger
Chronic and acute food insecurity and malnutrition impacts the livelihoods of the
most vulnerable Nigeriens. The Human Development Report ranks Niger in 186 out
of 187 developing nations. Agriculture constitutes 40% of GDP and engages 85% of
the population, and the majority of the most vulnerable people depend on subsis-
tence farming for their livelihoods Human Development Index. Productive liveli-
hoods are hindered by poor health, as well as poor agricultural productivity and
weak market systems leading to malnutrition. Addressing this storm of challenges
requires a holistic approach that would target reducing malnutrition among women
and children, increasing production and consumption of nutritious food and income,
and improved environment management.
• baCkground
Reduce food insecurity and malnutrition among vulnerable rural populations in
Maradi and Zinder (Niger) through among others increased production and
consumption of food for nutrition and income.
• objeCtives
Program implementation approach fosters integration and coordination through
engaging communities. Communities self-assess assets, systems and structures, such
as organizations, value systems, power structures and belief systems that regulate
people’s access to and use of assets. The process engages community, government,
religious leaders, and other stakeholders, and builds capacity of communities to
facilitate the process. Results are used to develop annual program plans, define com-
munity level indicators, and monitor and evaluate progress using giant scoreboards.
Final goal is to foster program ownership, encourage community-led management
of activities, and plan for the project exit strategy from start-up.
• methodology
With focus on ICRISAT interventions, following are the activities:
Activity 1: Increased household horticulture production for consumption and
income
Activity 2: Increased household knowledge of staple crops
Activity 3: Improved seed management and supply chain established
Activity 4: Improved household mastery of soil fertility management techniques
Activity 5: Improved household mastery of integrated pest management
techniques.
• aCtivities
Focusing on activities with ICRISAT involvement, the following can be considered:
1• After three years 99 units of Biological reclamation of degraded land (BDL)
covering 171.57 ha involving 4,081 women were implemented
2• Women of one of the sites (Zakarawa) increased their annual income by
80,000 FCFA per participant through the sale of annuals such as okra, sorrel,
and Sena Obstufolia
3• A total of 80 vegetable garden sites were developed covering 89.5 ha with
the involvement of 4,433 producers
4• A total of 163 local experts were trained to conduct demonstrations in parti-
cipatory variety selection, Integrated Soil Fertility and Pest Management, as
well farmer field schools in addition to which 24,806 (67.1% women) program
participants received short-term agricultural sector productivity or food se-
curity training
5• Following the demonstration activities in participatory variety selection and
integrated soil fertility management, 26.8 % of farmers used at least one im-
proved variety of macro-nutrient dense foods at the end of year 3 of the pro-
gram compared to 8.7% at baseline.
• results and main aChievements
• Current partnerships and future
engagements for out sCaling
The activities contribute strongly to improve food quality and quantity at household
level
The level of activities achievement indicates the engagement of the communities
for program ownership.
Successes in term of knowledge acquirement and technology pickup constitute
strong asset at community level for action perpetuation.
Partners:
The Catholic Relief Service (CRS), ICRISAT, GRET and the Ministry of Agriculture
• ConClusions
It is a development program which involves:
1• The ministry of Agriculture
2• The ministry of health
3• The ministry of environment
4• GRET
5• ICRISAT
6• INRAN
7• The University Abdou Moumouni of Niamey
8• The University of Maradi
DFAP - Reducing Food Insecurity and Malnutrition Among Vulnerable
Rural Population in Niger Dougbedji Fatondji1, James Quarshie2
1ICRISAT Sahelian Center2Catholic Relief Service, Niger
Corresponding author email: [email protected]
Legume harvested in BDL plots
Discussion during Agro-ecolocal analysis session in a Farmer Field School