20100206

NIAMEY (Reuters) - Japan and the Islamic Development Bank have pledged millions in dollars of aid for Niger, the first contributions after reports warned that more than half the country's population would face shortages this year.

Japan's contribution of 2.8 billion CFA francs on Friday follows a 3.5 billion CFA franc pledge earlier in the week by the Islamic bank to help the Sahelian nation that has a history of food crises but, in the past, has resisted outside help.

"Niger is a country which faces enormous difficulties in ensuring reliable and sustainable supply of food. That is why Japan will always stand by the Nigerien people in their efforts to improve living conditions," Okamura Yoshifumi, Japan's ambassador to Niger, said after confirming the donation.

Yoshifumi said that Japan's money would be used to buy rice for people in need.

The money from the IDB will be used to set up cereal banks, as well as rehabilitating rural roads and making farmland more productive.

Niger's farmers produced 26 percent less food during the 2009/10 harvest than they did last year.

A report in local media, which was confirmed by a government official, last month warned that 7.8 million of Niger's 15 million people will face food insecurity -- a term that covers stages from missing meals to malnutrition and famine.

Niger's government has said that it has enough food to cover everyone's needs but it would accept outside assistance, so long it was provided within a coordinated manner.

Food security is a politically sensitive subject in uranium-exporting Niger, which suffered severe shortages in 2005 affecting 4 million people.

The government resisted foreign help and denied there was a famine until media coverage attracted international attention.

Niger is currently at odds with donors, who have frozen much of their assistance for the vast, poor nation due to President Mamadou Tandja's successful 2009 campaign to change the constitution and extend his rule by three years.