NIAMEY, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Niger is on track to record its best cereal crop harvest in 20 years, the government said on Tuesday, after the West African country was crippled by food shortages last year.
Crop failure is not uncommon but last year&${esc.hash}39;s crisis was especially dire and donors spent more than ${esc.dollar}250 million in aid after poor rains left half of the country&${esc.hash}39;s 15 million people in need of food aid.
"There will be an overall cereal surplus of 1.5 million tonnes. We have not seen this level of production over the last 20 years," said Malick Sadelher, Niger&${esc.hash}39;s minister for agriculture and livestock.
Uranium-producing Niger straddles the Sahara and its land comprises large tracts of desert. Those regions which can be cultivated suffer from regular droughts.
He said the harvest was expected to be 41 percent above the average of the last five years and 16 percent above levels in 2008, the country&${esc.hash}39;s last decent crop, due to decent rainfall and reduced crop pests.
Sadelher warned, however, that the figures hid shortages in 16 of the country&${esc.hash}39;s 35 regions, where flooding had damaged crops.
"The process of identifying vulnerable areas is ongoing through a joint government-donor study," he added.
The United Nations has warned that Niger must rein in its population growth to prevent further crises as numbers could swell from 15 million today to 50 million by 2050 if current growth was not reduced.
In November the UN said it expected Niger to produce more than 60 percent more cereals in 2010 over 2009. (Reporting by Aboulaye Massalatchi; writing by David Lewis; Editing by Matthew Jones)
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