Niger says nearly 2 million face hunger

Reuters AlertNet

"Even in a good year there are regions that cannot feed themselves," Daddy Dan Bakoye, head statistician in the ministry of agriculture told IRIN.

The main problem now is that most families are indebted. People abandoned their farms in favour of taking cash wages elsewhere, or sold the only assets they had, their land or animals and food prices sky rocketed, said Bakoye.