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Â鶹Éç Hausa is launching a series of special programming reporting on food security in Niger, Nigeria, and other parts of West Africa.

For two weeks, from Monday 15 February, the Â鶹Éç Hausa daily radio and online output – on bbchausa.com – will be dominated by the Food Special, exploring the reasons behind failures of "agricultural revolutions" and various other programmes aimed at creating plenty in this region of Africa.

The series also looks ahead at the dangers of possible food shortages and governments' plans to protect their populations.

Head of Â鶹Éç Hausa, Jamilah Tangaza, says: "The story is still being told of how Nigeria was once a house of plenty, producing enough to feed its people and exporting the surplus.

"Nigeria's food shortage is a puzzle that has defied the country's successive leaders over the decades. Niger, where farming and livestock is the second income generator, regularly faces bouts of severe food shortages – why?"

The Â鶹Éç Hausa journalists file their reports and analysis from across Nigeria and Niger, seeking the answer to the all-important question: How protected is the region in terms of food security and what is being done to make famines history?

Â鶹Éç Hausa's in-depth reports from Niger and Nigeria provide audiences with a comprehensive view of the issues which define the food situation in the region.

Baro Arzika, Idy Baraou, Yusuf Ibrahim, Tchima Illa, Abdul Muhammad Isa, Abba Katsina, Abba Mohd, Nurah Ringim, Shehu Saulawa, Haruna Shehu and Haruna Tangaza report on a range of issues including:

– Why the agricultural revolution promised by various Nigerian governmentsnever really happened

– The extent of the risk, forecast by EU's aid agencies, of food shortages which might affect millions in West Africa's arid Sahel belt

– How to avert, or at least reduce, malnutrition in the locations where food shortages are imminent

– Fish farming and rice production

– Desertification and the potential of irrigation farming

– Move from the traditional methods of animal husbandry to modern techniques

– The role of government-funded agricultural scientific centres.

The Food Special on Â鶹Éç Hausa is broadcast across daily programming – at 05.30 GMT on 41 and 49 meters, at 06.30 GMT on 22, 25 and 31 meters, at 13.45 GMT on 13 and 16 meters, and at 19.30 GMT on 16, 9 and 41 meters shortwave. The programming, in audio and text, is also available via the website bbchausa.com.

Notes to Editors

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