Following generally adequate rains in May and June over the main producing areas which permitted widespread plantings, rains increased in early July. They decreased during the second dekad but resumed in late July and early August in the west and south-west while they remained below normal in the centre and the east. Cumulative rainfall is reported above normal in about half of the meteorological stations. Plantings are completed almost everywhere. Stages of development of the crops vary in the regions but they are predominantly in the vegetative stage.
Infestations of grasshoppers are reported in Diffa and Zinder departments. Insect attacks are also reported in several areas, notably on the niébé in the centre-south. Low numbers of solitary Desert Locust adults are likely to be present in some parts of the Tamesna and western Aïr where they are expected to breed in areas of green vegetation which developed following good rains in June-July. Other adults may appear and breed in the Tahoua and Tillabery areas. These small locust numbers are unlikely to affect the food supply situation.
Despite an above-average harvest in 1996, the food supply situation is tight in several areas which gathered poor crops, some for the second successive year. The National Early Warning System (SAPR) estimated that the arrondissements of Ouallam, Tahoua, Tanout, Tchintabaraden, N’Guigmi, Arlit, Tchirozerine, Bilma and Agadez commune are particularly vulnerable. Twenty four other arrondissements are also classified as moderately vulnerable and need to be monitored closely. Cereal prices are much higher than last year at the same period and shortages have occurred. Imports from northern Nigeria are also lower than usual due to limited cereal availability. In the vulnerable areas of Maradi, Tanout and Zinder departments, the food supply is tight and an abnormal number of families have migrated while remaining families are consuming wild food, selling small livestock or borrowing against future harvest. Substantial population movements have been reported especially in Tanout area, in Zinder department. The situation varies greatly amongst villages but assistance is most urgently needed in the arrondissement of Tanout and neighbouring areas of Dakoro arrondissement. Some assistance is also needed in urban areas where migrants from affected areas have concentrated, notably in Zinder where about 4 000 people have set up a camp. A cholera outbreak has also been reported. In the Tanout and northern Mirria area, WFP is expanding its ongoing development projects to provide food to an increased number of schools and health centres. WFP is also supplying food stocks to open 40 new cereal banks in addition to re-stocking some 72 existing ones.