An estimated 3.6 million people are at risk of food shortages in the west African state of Niger due to drought and plagues of locusts which devastated last year's harvests.
Aid agencies have warned that thousands of children are at risk of dying before the next harvest in October unless donors step up a belated effort to help.
The country is ranked by UN data as the second poorest in the world after Sierra Leone.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation, a UN agency, has appealed for urgent aid for Niger, saying the impact of drought and locusts has been very severe.
'Targeted food supply and the delivery of agricultural inputs such as seeds and fodder are urgently required to enable affected vulnerable households to cope with the crisis until harvesting starts in October,' the FAO said in a statement.
