Monday, February 8, 2010

Niger faces food crisis

In preparing my news article for french class tomorrow i came across an article on the Radio France International website that is very interesting in how the government is approaching the looming food crisis http://www.rfi.fr/contenu/20100207-le-niger-frappe-une-crise-alimentaire If my translation is correct 2.7 million people in Niger are facing a food shortage and the response of the government was to release 6 million de francs CFA to buy cereals.

That sounds like a lot of money until you plug it into a currency converter, then the amount seems really small- only $12,523. You can't even buy a "good" car for that much in Niger- how far is $12,523 going to stretch? This amount seems ridiculous when you consider how much money the government spends on other things, but at least its a something (about a 1/2 cent per person).

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