Poverty in Niger

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Reading about the famine and death of children in Niger can only be described as painful. From the position of a middle class American, it is impossible to comprehend the fact that a quarter of all children born in Niger will die before age five. These horrible conditions are made only worse by unstable government, constant military coups, as well as literacy rates under 20% and the fact tat the majority of the nation is the inhospitable wasteland known as the Sahara Desert. Over time, the problem of desertification is only going to become worse, as the Sahara will creept farther and farther south, rendering more and more of the country's arable land into desert. A majority of the nation's population are involved in agriculture, mostly subsistence farming, and the current level of agricultural rechnology in Niger is pitiful; there are only 128 tractors in the entire nation of over 3 million people. As the amount of arable land shrinks more and more, the people will be pushed even further into starvation.

The sky-high child death rate is horrible. A large reason for this high death rate is that women have too many children that they cannot support. The average woman in Niger has seven children. Even in a nation with plentiful food and a strong economy, it is difficult to adaquetly raise and provide for seven children. To make matters worse, the amount of women with access to contraception is only 8%. Humanitarian aid would be well used in educating men and women about birth control, as well as greatly increasing the availability of contraceptives. If the country cannot sustain its current population, it will be even less capable at sustaining the population in 2026, which will be double the current population.

What sticks out to me as a huge factor in Niger's poverty is not only the history of colonization, but more so the geography. The Sahara Desert is an inhospitable wasteland, and it is very difficult for nations bordering the Sahara desert to prosper. Additionally, Niger is a landlocked nation, withou taccess to the ocean, which further makes trade more difficult. How I see it, Niger is a prime example of a nation with horrible geography, causing terrible poverty in the nation.

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